The Sound That Silence Makes
by Pineeapple
Summary: Quinn's deaf and doesn't talk, Rachel a chatterbox and doesn't listen. Its always quiet when you have a roommate like Quinn, but sometimes silence can make the biggest sound of all...
1. Chapter 1

**This is just an idea that I had, a very long one shot, in case you where wondering Rachel and Kurt are juniors in college. **

**The Sound That Silence Makes.**

The sun was bright and not a single trace of clouds were in the sky. Rachel and Kurt sat peacefully outside of a small coffee shop, enjoying the fresh air and the not so fresh coffee. Rachel was sitting peacefully, her hands folded in front of her and her hair softly blowing in the breeze, a slight look of sorrowfulness on her face. Kurt was not very happy; he was leaning back in his chair staring at Rachel with less then a look of friendship.

"I don't understand why you can't just stay with me." Kurt took a sip from his coffee, giving Rachel a death stare. She laughed uncomfortably, gearing up for a word battle.

"This may be my only opportunity to get my own place for a while, and while I know that you and I had plans for our joint living arrangement-"

"Plans that seem to be changing." Kurt muttered under his breath, covering up Rachel's unpleasant look by another sip of coffee.

"Plans I intend to keep! Look It's just for a while, okay? And, Santana really needs a buddy right now. She's been really bored ever since Brittany went on that stupid dolphin expedition."

"Do you know how many times I'll hear Santana crying or doing _other_ stuff at night Rachel?" The brunette laughed a little, her face lighting up at Kurt's horrid expressions as he dreadfully thought of his future nights.

"It will only be for a few months, then maybe you can move in with me."

"Don't shove me in with Santana!"

"Its Santana or your dorm, and don't get me started on your crazy roommate." Kurt took a breath in defeat, nodding slightly. Rachel's smile grew wider before she bowed her head in slight relief. There was a short silence before Kurt broke it with a not so silent mutter.

"I still don't forgive you."

"Will you if I give you the rest of my donut?" Kurt looked down at Rachel's plate, her half eaten chocolate donut calling his name, he looked back at her, then back at the donut.

"No, but you'll be on your way there." Rachel nodded to him thankfully as he happily plopped the donut into his mouth. Stretching a little Kurt hopped up from his seat; waiting for Rachel to do the same before they began walking down the street.

"So who's your roommate going to be?"

"Her name was, Quincy, I think. I don't know much about her actually." Rachel looked up at the sky, trying to imagine the type of person her new roommate might be.

"I bet she has green hair, and a mustache." Kurt joked, swinging his arms playfully as they continued their walk.

"Or sleeps with a bunch of old photo's of past boyfriends!"

"Or worse." Kurt stopped in his tracks, leaving Rachel confused. He leaned in close to her, whispering in her ear.

"Has a better singing voice then you." Rachel made an exaggerated surprised face, acting hurt as she playfully hit him in the arm.

"I'm sure she is nice. She's probably just some normal person looking for a way to pay half price on an old apartment."

"And you're dragging me along because?"

"Because I want to have a big strong man around incase she is insane, or on drugs or has a really crazy dog." Kurt nodded, not quite believing what his friend was saying.

"You need someone to help you move your stuff don't you?"

"Oh Kurt, how you know me so." Rachel giggled with a playful smile. The two friends walked the rest of the way to Rachel's dorm room laughing and joking. When they arrived Rachel stood in front of the doorway proud. The walls where pale grey and the stain of old posters was stamped on the wall. Her dorm room was fully packaged. Boxes neatly placed in piles and garbage bags all stored by size in the corner. Her posters where neatly rolled and kept together with rubber bands and stacked on top of other boxes Rachel led Kurt around her room, setting her coat on a box before handing items to a groaning Kurt.

"Now I owe you." She smiled piling on one more box before dusting her hands off, grabbing a box of her own and leading Kurt outside. Because of the lack of personal transportation as Rachel called it, they had only managed to make one trip before they decided to the rest another time.

"Do you know how ridiculous it is to walk through the subway with boxes and Funny Girl posters?" Kurt adjusted the boxes in his hand, letting them drag his weight. They still had a ten minute walk to get to Rachel's new apartment, and that was only if Rachel didn't stop every two minutes to check her print out map.

"There was someone dressed as a prostitute Kurt, we weren't the worse ones." Rachel told him with a 'silly boy' tone to her voice. Her eyes where focused closely on her map as she turned it upside down trying to find the right path.

"Uh that was a prostitute, and your lost." Rachel tried to wave him off with her hand and ended up dropping her map. "I don't

even know why you bother with the maps Rach."

"Okay so we're by the lake… And we need to go away from the lake."

"What lake?" Kurt looked around, they where in the middle of the city. He grumbled and 'set' the boxes down on the concrete leaning on them. Rachel smiled, pointing triumphantly to a spot on the map.

"We're by this hot dog stand, so we are right here!"

"There are no hot dog stands on maps Rachel. This is stupid, just ask someone." Rachel pouted, folding up her map and crossing her arms over her chest, huffing loudly.

"Fine." She mumbled and pulled out her phone checking over it before shoving it back in her bag. She casually picked up her boxes and started walking in what seemed like a random direction.

"Where are we going?"

"To my apartment, its about five minutes in this direction." Kurt had a dumfounded expression on his face, chasing after Rachel leaving the boxes in the middle of the sidewalk.

"You had the address?"

"Yes, and its not like I haven't been here before, I'm renting the place remember?"

"So why did you-" Rachel smirked a little before turning her back and continuing with her walk.  
"I wanted to see how long you could carry those boxes for." Kurt huffed and stuck his tongue out at Rachel's back, grabbing the boxes and slowly following her.

**...**

When they seemed to be getting close Rachel's new apartment it wasn't at all that amazing. Rachel kept looking at her phone making sure her address was correct, a poster between her arms and Kurt mumbling behind her. The loby wasn't very exiting. It was very grey, very small and very vacant. Kurt was starting to wonder if Rachel was the only person who lived here.

They rode the elevator up to the fifth floor where Rachel unlocked the door to her room. It wasn't anything special, but it was still very nice. A TV and a couch in the small living area, a small kitchen with a stove and a dishwasher and white countertops. The floors where brown and wooden and creaked just a little.

"Great we're here, can I please go?"

"Don't you want to help me unpack?"

"No." Rachel flashed Kurt one of her 'please daddy' faces, something Kurt was sure he was immune to, he sighed and nodded his head yes. Obviously he wasn't.

Rachel grabbed her friend by the back of his shirt and pulled him into an unwilling hug. His look of distain aside, he carried the boxes into the room Rachel pointed to. The brunette looked over her apartment for a moment before seeing a note taped to the refrigerator. She pulled it off and held it close to her face beginning to read it.

_Hi it's Quinn. I'm your new roommate, I'll probably be gone for a while I'm still getting a few things so don't be surprised if you don't see me. Don't touch my room, or my stuff. _

Rachel turned the note over expecting more. There was no more, and she unwilling decided to take the opportunity to start unpacking.

**...**

It wasn't until the sky was orange and the sun was setting, that Rachel heard the door to her apartment open and close. There were sounds of shuffling and another door, the one next to her room, opening. She decided to take the opportunity to introduce herself to her roommate. Rachel walked swiftly to the room next to hers. The door was open so she took it is a sign that someone was home. She poked her head through the door to see the craziest room ever. The walls where riddled with posters of bands and comic book characters, celebrities, monsters and manga characters. In fact there were so many pictures she couldn't tell where the wall was. It had black and pink shelves with strange stuffed animals and action figures neatly placed to look like they where in certain scenes or battles. In one corner there was a pile of board games and in another, a pile of video games. The floors where riddled with checkered rugs and scattered clothes. To the side of the door was a large white desk, with lots of drawers with cartoon characters faces as handles. The desk was stacked with comic books and drawing books, odd pens and pencils with strange designs or shapes rested peacefully in a large yellow plastic cup. A small desk light, in the shape of a banana tree (even with its own plastic monkey) was at the side of the desk, next to a large pink cup of colored pencils. Next to the desk was a large glass showcase, with hundreds of comic books placed inside, they looked new and well taken care of, there packages glistening in the light. Rachel looked over to her left and saw a closet; everything in it had skulls, superheroes or tares in it. She couldn't find anything that wasn't pink, grey, black or blue. Then she noticed her.

A girl, about her age, sat in a large pink beanbag. She had a comic book placed at her stomach and an ice tea by her side. She had short hair cut choppily with random half done braids along the sides. It was dyed an odd shade of light pink with a bandana rapped around the front.

"Uh Hi, I'm Rachel and you must be Quinn, I saw your note on the door." The girl didn't even look up from her comic book; she causally flipped the page as if no one was even there. Rachel approached her with caution, the seemingly punk girl could have had a knife on her, and a Broadway star in the making didn't want to get murdered.

"Hello?" The girl still paid no attention to the approaching brunette; she adjusted herself slightly in her beanbag before turning the page of her comic again. Rachel took in a large breath stepping close enough to the girl for her to wave her hand in front of her comic. The girl gasped, dropping her comic book in her lap and flinging backwards is shock, hitting her head on the back of the wall. Rachel instinctively reached her arms out to help her; the girl kept her eyes closed, reaching her hands back to cup her head.

"I'm so sorry, are you okay? My name is Rachel if you didn't catch it before." The girl leaned forward a little, squinting her eyes tightly before opening them again to look at Rachel.

"Your Quinn right?" The girl nodded, slowly getting up from her beanbag and picking up her comic from the floor, setting it on the white desk.

"Do you need some ice or something?" Quinn didn't pay Rachel much attention; she walked out the room without even looking back. Rachel walked out as well, trying to catch up with her. Quinn walked into the kitchen, opening the top cabinet and standing on her tiptoes, pulling out a large Ziploc back of Oreos. She reached in to the bag, a look of slight pain still in her eyes before breaking the Oreo in two and starting on the first half.

"Is there a reason your not talking to me?" Quinn looked up at Rachel who seemed a bit unsure of herself. Quinn gestured for her to say something, or possibly to repeat what she just said.

"Why aren't you talking." Quinn squinted her eyes at Rachel before opening her mouth slightly to speak, but filled it with Oreos instead of words. Rachel took in a meditative breath, starting to walk to her new room. Quinn looked up at her causing Rachel to stop.

"Oh I'm going to run my scales, I have play practice tomorrow. You don't mind if I sing do you? Because if it bothers you I can go somewhere else." Quinn squinted her eyes again; something Rachel assumed was a habit. She brought her head up, looking to the ceiling like she was trying to understand exactly what Rachel had just said. She brought her head down again only to nod and shrug, before placing her bag of Oreos back in the cabinet. Rachel shut the door behind her walking to the middle of her unpacked room. It was empty and white and boring. She sighed deeply before fishing into her purse for her sheet music. When she found it, she adjusted herself and took in a deep breath running over her scales. When she was finished she went to go find Quinn. Who was at her desk in her room, leaning over a piece of paper with a pencil in her hand. The door was open but Rachel knocked quietly, Quinn didn't even look up.

"Quinn? I uh, I was going to go to the store to get some groceries, did you need anything?" Quinn put her pencil down, looking up to see Rachel, she squinted her eyes in confusion, then shrugged.

"So you don't need anything." Quinn shook her head unsurely, before dropping it and going back to her paper. Rachel whispered a quick 'okay' to herself as she walked out of her room and to the store. When she was half way there she decided to call Kurt, she dialed his number on her phone, waiting for him to answer.

"Ms. Berry, what is the pleasure?" Kurt answered with a more then pleasured tone to his voice.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to come to the store with me."

"To carry your bags?"

"Of course not, just to hang out." There was a slight pause on the other end as Rachel waited for her friend to decide on the debate going on in his head.

"Fine, be there is ten." He said quickly before hanging up the phone.

**...**

Rachel hummed to herself as she walked through the door, nudging it open with her elbow as she balanced bags in her arms. "Quinn?" She called out, looking around the house for any sign of the girl, shrugging she placed the bags on the floor and began to sort them into cabinets. When she was putting away the last box of cereal she noticed Quinn's bag of Oreos. Not thinking twice she opened it and took out two, putting one between her teeth before putting the bag back where it belonged and skipping into her room.

It was getting dark when Quinn came back home, twisting her keys in her hand and walking over to her cabinet again, standing on her tiptoes to reach her bag of Oreos. When he pulled it down and set it on the counter a shocked expression reached her face. She opened the bag slightly, peering around all sides before getting back on her tiptoes to check the cabinet again. When she came back down she ran into Rachel's room. Rachel was sitting on the floor cross-legged, unpacking a box, her hair messily falling around her face only kept out of her eyes by a thin red headband.

"Oh hello Quinn." Rachel smiled softly; Quinn angrily shoved the bag of Oreos in her direction, shaking it up and down so she could see.

"Oreos?" Quinn pointed an angry finger at Rachel, then back at the Oreos then at herself. Rachel looked confused for a second, before she understood what was going on. She nodded apologetically.

"Oh, I had two- wait, how did you even notice? it was two Oreos!" Quinn glared at her, pointing back to the bag.

"I thought it would be okay… I guess I should have asked, sorry." Quinn took a deep breath before running back to her room, shutting the door behind her.

Quinn disappeared into her room for an hour. When she came back she had a piece of paper in her hand while Rachel grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. Quinn tapped her on the shoulder before she slapped the piece of paper onto the cabinet she was always reaching into. Rachel tried to look around her to see what it said, but waited until Quinn had taped the last corner and backed away to read it. In very realistic flaming letters it read 'Quinn's Food'. There was a very cartoonish picture of Quinn holding an Oreo between her teeth and pointing out of the picture. Rachel looked at the paper, then at Quinn who nodded gracefully. Rachel was starting to wonder a little bit about this girl.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Sound That Silence Makes**

**Rustle...**

Rachel stood on her tiptoes atop her bed, jumping slightly to stick the last corner of her Wicked poster on the wall. Her room was half done, posters hung around neatly on the walls, she had moved her desk in the corner and organized all of her books. The last thing she had was her closet; luckily Kurt was coming over later that week to help her with that. Rachel smiled proudly at her perfectly inline poster and hopped down from her bed, lightly skipping out into the kitchen. Quinn was lying on the middle of the floor, eyes closed and hands behind her head, breathing softly. Rachel stopped her skipping and turned her attention towards Quinn.

"Hey Quinn." She waved quickly, trying to seem less nervous then she actually was. Quinn didn't respond, a small yawn escaping from her lips. Rachel leaned over her head curiously, holding in a laugh. Quinn reached her hands up to her eyes and rubbed then softly, opening her eyes sleepily. They widened immediately when she saw Rachel and she sat up instinctively, bumping her head on Rachel's.

"Sorry!" Rachel rubbed her head blindly, trying to look away from Quinn's evil glare. She stood up, pulling her hands causally in front of her, trying to focus on anything then the building pain in her head. "I actually wanted to ask you something, if that's okay…" Quinn took in a deep breath, leaning back on her hands and crossing her legs, nodding slightly for Rachel to go on.

"Well, I don't want to seem bratty of anything-" Quinn choked on a laugh, rolling her eyes. Rachel took in an angry breath, crossing her arms over her chest before continuing. "Its just that most people say 'hi' every once and a while. So I was just wondering, why you don't talk." Quinn squinted her eyes carefully at Rachel, as if she didn't believe what she was saying. Quinn stared at the ceiling before staring back at Rachel, a small smile on her face. Rachel knit her eyebrows, mouth open in slight disbelief, confusion, and slight anger. "A-are you _laughing_?" Quinn closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath, her smile getting a little bigger.

"That's the biggest smile-actually _only_ smile I have seen on your face the whole two weeks I've been here…" Rachel moved towards Quinn, staring at her contained amusement "I didn't think you _could_ laugh…" She mumbled to herself, sitting on the ground next to her.

"Now, _what's_ so funny?" Quinn shook her head, trying to change her mood. She looked at Rachel with no expression at all, pointing to her ear.

"Your ears are not funny Quinn, that's hardly a reason not to talk." Rachel shrugged. Quinn rolled her eyes again made an 'x' with her two pointer fingers.

"You don't want to listen to me? Well that's quite insulting Quinn, I was just trying to be nice and here you are-" Quinn punched Rachel roughly in the arm, the brunette winched and rubbed it, glaring at her. Quinn stood up angrily, storming off into her room and coming back out, a paper and pencil in her hand. She sat back down next to Rachel, angrily scribbling a sentence on the page.

_I'm deaf smart-ass! _

"Quinn, I understand we aren't really friends, I have still yet to learn your last name, however that's not reason for that type of language-" Quinn picked up the paper from the floor and wildly started pointing to it. Rachel nodded, shrugging slightly. "Yes your deaf, I gathered that, no other reason why you wouldn't be speaking. But if you're deaf, why do you respond to me like you know what I'm saying. Now that I think about it, how do you write, or read for that matter." Quinn groaned and scribbled another messy sentence on the piece of paper, shoving it blindly into Rachel's face.

_I'm deaf not stupid._

"That didn't really answer my question…" Rachel spoke timidly; hiding her face from Quinn, she was a little scared of her. "And why don't you speak sign language, or speak at all. I've seen deaf people who could speak…they where mostly on television but still…" Quinn squinted her eyes again, writing another sentence on the paper.

_I do speak sign language, but YOU don't, so I didn't see much of a point._

"But what about-" Quinn sent a glare Rachel's way, continuing on with another sentence.

_Teaching a deaf kid how to speak is a tough task. Something my parents didn't feel the need to do. I can read lips because of soap operas with subtitles, I also had a teacher for a while when I was younger._

Rachel nodded, taking in a deep breath. Quinn turned her head towards her, waiting for her to say something more.

"Maybe you should go to speech therapy or something?" Quinn's eyes darted back and forth in an annoyed matter; Rachel ducked her head in embarrassment. "Maybe I could teach you?" Quinn stiffened a laugh, Rachel pouted slightly, re-crossing her arms. "I was serious." Quinn squinted her eyes again, closing her eyes in disapproval.

"Maybe I can't teach you how to speak, b-but I have a really good ear, I'm a singer, maybe I could teach sounds to you o-or something." Rachel smiled at Quinn attentively; Quinn had opened her eyes and was shaking her head in disbelief. Rachel put her hand lightly on her shoulder, in which Quinn brushed her off and gave her a disgusted look. "Once I set my mind to something, I do it, and I want this, so I'm doing it." Quinn started to write something on her piece of paper, but Rachel was already running off into her room. "I'll get started on the power points right now!" Quinn chased after her, holding the paper out in front of her and waving it around, before she stopped halfway between her room and her old sitting place, defeated.

**…**

Rachel sat in her room, leaning on her few unpacked boxes, computer on her lap and hair pulled back into a lose ponytail. She had her notebook by her side, occasionally stopping her typing to write a few bullet points in her notebook. Quinn was lying on her stomach, chin in her hands staring out the window at the swaying orange leaves on the trees outside their apartment.

"Okay Quinn, I am finally done with-" Rachel looked up from her computer screen, holding it down slightly to look at Quinn. "Quinn?" The pink haired girl closed her eyes softly, taking in each breath with care as if it was the only thing that mattered. Rachel leaned over and poked her with her pen, she looked surprised that Rachel was still there, opening her eyes and blinking a few times. She sat up tiredly, placing her hands in her lap signaling Rachel to start.

"Well, welcome to the Rachel Berry 'Teach Quinn How To Speak/Sounds Extravaganza!'" Rachel did jazz hands and Quinn looked from left to right in disbelief. Rachel turned her computer around to reveal a power point with silly cartoon drawings of ears and megaphones, she smiled proudly, pumping her hands up and down, unable to contain her excitement. "So I thought we would pick a sound every Monday and work on it until Sunday." Quinn placed her chin in her hand, nodding weakly, not really paying attention. "We could um, draw pictures of something, I noticed you liked to draw…" Rachel's eyes darted from Quinn to the floor. "Is there anything you wanted to start with?" Quinn shook her head, falling on her back and closing her eyes.

"Fine then, I guess I'll pick." Rachel closed her computer, walking over to Quinn and hoisting her up from, Quinn frowned, groaning and opening one eye.

"I guess you don't like homework huh?" Quinn blew the stay hair out of her face, nodding. "Fine, I have a better plan."

**…**

Rachel and Quinn walked down the New York sidewalk, trying to keep warm in the cold." So that's when my daddies decided that I needed to stop singing in the shower. It wasn't a bad break though, it was only fractured I think." Quinn followed behind Rachel, hands stuffed in her pockets and scarf flowing slightly in the breeze. "So anyway, I know I'm destined to be a Broadway legend, its quite hard knowing your destiny because you know that everyone wants to bring you down." Quinn kept her focus on the leaves swaying slightly on the trees. "You know sometimes I forget you can't hear me." Rachel turned her head back to face Quinn, who didn't turn her head away from the leaves.

"Oh I'm sorry." Rachel slowed her pace, lining up with Quinn and giving her a warm smile. "I haven't told you where we're going yet have I?" Quinn shook her head, adjusting her hands in her pockets and ducking her head into her scarf.

"Well to tell you the truth, I don't actually know. I just wanted to walk with you, you know break the ice." Rachel did a small dance, thinking it was cuter then it actually was. "So I've told you most of my story, so why don't you tell me a little of yours?" Quinn glared at Rachel, who immediately blushed. "Oh yeah, forgot, you can't speak, sorry." She ducked her head in embarrassment, until her hair covered her face.

"So anyway, let me tell you about middle school!" Rachel perked up, jumping slightly as she walked. She tapped Quinn on the shoulder, pointing to the trees, smiling at the faint rustling sound they made.

"Look at the leaves Quinn, they always look so pretty in the fall…I really love the sound they make, it's so peaceful…" Quinn turned her head towards them, nodding before turning her head away from her, stuffing her pockets further into her jacket, closing her eyes against the cold wind.

**...**

**A lot of people really wanted me to write more so I did, hope you liked it. I'll probably make this a full fledged story now :) **


	3. Chapter 3

**The Sound That Silence Makes**

_**Ssh! **_

Rachel sat on her bed, phone pressed to her ear. Kurt was on the other line, and she could hear background sounds of traffic while he spoke.

"How did you seriously not know she was deaf Rachel?"

"I guess I was focused on moving in and doing homework and-"

"Being an idiot." She sighed, laying down and closing her eyes as she spoke.

"Your not really helping me here Kurt."

"Did you ever think that maybe your not qualified to teach someone how to speak?" Rachel huffed, adjusting herself before yelling into the phone.

"I _am_ qualified!"

"How so?"

"I…I just am!"

"Rachel get with the program, your never going to be able to teach her how to speak, why don't you just pay to get her a teacher if your so set on helping her or better yet you learn sign language yourself." Rachel's eyes shot open, ideas rushing through her head.

"I don't really want to."

"Did you think that Quinn doesn't really want to either?" Rachel didn't answer; she simply got up and walked out of her room, nearly tripping over Quinn again, who was laying on the floor as usual, she had a pencil in her hand and a piece of paper on her chest.

"I'll have to call you back Kurt."

"You probably wont-" She hung up, kneeling down next to Quinn and lightly tapping her on the arm. Her eyes opened sleepily, staring up at Rachel.

"Do you sleep out here?" Quinn shook her head, closing her eyes again. Rachel sighed, picking up the piece of paper on her chest and turning it around to look at it. It was a super hero, with a cape and a mask, hands on her hips and smiling brightly.

"It kind of looks like Santana…" Rachel smiled, looking at the picture with curiosity. "But it's probably a coincidence since you don't know her." Quinn held up her hand, wiggling fingers at Rachel with her eyes still closed. Rachel handed her the drawing and she peacefully brought her hand back down, rolling over on her side.

"Quinn, are you sure it's a good idea to be sleeping on the ground like this?" Quinn groaned, moving her hands up behind her head as a pillow. Rachel leaned over, poking her in the shoulder. "Quinn?" Quinn felt around the floor for her pencil, which had dropped from her hand, taking the piece of paper she scribbled something on the back of it. It was messy and not very well written because her eyes where closed. Rachel had to squint to make it out.

_Could you stop leaning over me?_

"No I can't, every time I come out of my room you're on the floor." Quinn sat up, rubbing her eyes and taking the paper back from Rachel's hands, scribble down another message.

_Why don't you just shut up?_

She thrust the paper in Rachel's face, waving it around. Rachel crossed her arms over her chest, huffing loudly.

"What does it matter to you? You can't hear me anyway." Quinn rolled her eyes, writing down another message on her paper, sitting up to give it to her.

_Yes, but I can see your annoying mouth moving._

"That's terrible, I am deeply offended by your insults Quinn."

_And you don't think anything you've said to me the past month was offending? _

"Well that doesn't-" Rachel shuffled uncomfortably at the words in front of her, swallowing multiple times to fill the silence in the room. "Sorry." She whispered. Quinn raised an eyebrow at her coyly, lifting her hand up to cup her ear, leaning forward.

"You know you heard me." Quinn shook her head and did an over exaggerated confused look, lifting her hands to add to the charade. "Fine, I'm sorry." Quinn smiled satisfied, turning her picture around and continuing her sketch.

"You know that looks like my friend." Rachel leaned over to point to Quinn's drawing. Quinn nodded.

"You didn't listen to a word a said did you?" Quinn nodded her head again, shading in part of her sketch. "You know I can be quiet too?" Quinn kept nodding, Rachel took in a deep breath, sitting down next to her and crossing her arms, closing her eyes tightly. Quinn turned her head towards her, and was confused when she saw that she was sitting like a statue and not breathing. The brunette sat perfectly still before she fell forward gasping for breath. Quinn choked on a laugh, shaking her head with disapproval before going back to sketching."You don't think I can do it do you?" Quinn nodded again, Rachel stood up, huffing loudly. Quinn turned her head at the shadow over her, confused.

"I'll prove it to you Quinn, I'll prove to you that I _can_ stay silent." Quinn raised an eyebrow at her; confused she shrugged and went back to drawing again.

"You weren't even listening to me this whole time where you?" Quinn nodded the same way she had been doing the whole conversation. "Your just doing that so I don't bother you, aren't you?" Quinn flipped over her paper and started to draw something else. Rachel leaned over it, mouth open at the shock that Quinn could ignore her so easily. Quinn drew for about five minutes until she turned it around. A doodle of Rachel getting eaten by a shark, with an arrow pointing to the Rachel drawing saying 'you'.

"That's insulting, that's really insulting." She shrugged, turning the paper back around and drawing again. "I'll show you Quinn Fabray!" Quinn looked up again, watching Rachel wave her arms around like an idiot. "I'll show all of you!" Quinn glanced around and pointed to herself in confusion

"You know what I mean." She rolled her eyes, getting up to go to her room, sitting at her desk. Rachel chased after her shouting. "Don't even pretend like I'm not here Quinn!" Quinn turned around to face her, turning her head in a 'what do you want' manner. "I'm going to prove to you that I can stay quiet." Quinn did thumbs up sign pointing to her watch.

"I haven't started yet!" The pink haired girl scoffed, making an 'L' with her left hand and placing it on top of her head, smiling.

"Your horrible!" Quinn rolled her eyes again, waving her hand for Rachel to get out of her room. "You did not just do that, I know you can't hear me but you can sure as hell _see_ me yelling at you!" Quinn nodded and closed her eyes mockingly, tapping her watch again. "You did not just close you eyes on me." Quinn shook her head around with her eyes closed, until Rachel stormed out of her room, slamming the door.

"I'll show you…" She mumbled as she stomped into her room.

…

It was early in the morning and Rachel was leaning on the counter, stopwatch in hand while Quinn looked around uninterested, stuffing her face with Oreos.

"So." Rachel began, holding up her stopwatch to show Quinn."I usually use this to time the length of my notes-" Quinn rolled her eyes, Rachel decided to go right to the point. "So, I won't speak for one hour, to get a feel for your situation." Quinn rolled her eyes, placing her bag of Oreos on the counter and holding up seven fingers.

"Seven minutes? That's hardly enough time-" Quinn gave her a quick scowl, wiggling her fingers to show there importance.

"Seven hours… That's a bit-" She leaned over and punched Rachel in the arm, shoving seven fingers back into her face. "Seven days?" Quinn nodded.

"Quinn I can't last seven days! Do you know how hard it is not to be able to speak-" Quinn gave Rachel an evil stare, pointing to herself "Oh, I guess you do…But I have class." Quinn shook her head, pointing to herself again. "Wait you go to college?" Quinn slapped Rachel across the face insulted. Rachel rubbed her cheek, pouting. "Why do you always hit me?" She piped down when she saw Quinn's scowl. "Sorry I just assumed that you didn't- well- what college do you go to?" Quinn rolled her eyes and stuffed another Oreo into her mouth, pointing to the stopwatch.

"Fine, seven days it is, how long is that?" Rachel looked to the ceiling, calculating in her head. "One day is twenty-four hours, so times seven is…" Quinn tapped her on the shoulder, holding up one finger, then six fingers then eight fingers.

"Fifteen hours? I don't think so." Quinn took in an annoyed breath, blowing the bangs out of her face and giving Rachel a death stare. "One hundred sixty eight, I got it. Your really good." She smiled and outstretched her hand to shake Quinn's. "Let it begin!" She smiled and pressed the start button on her stopwatch.

**Day One**

**…**

Rachel smiled proudly as she exited the bathroom, tying a knot in her bathrobe and adjusting the towel on her head. She was surprised to see Quinn sitting on the counter, taking a handful of chocolate cereal straight from the box. Rachel smiled at her; Quinn waved slightly, a bored expression on her face.

"H-" Quinn brought her finger up to her mouth.

"Ssh." Rachel covered her mouth with her hands and adjusted herself, moving uncomfortably before walking off to her room. Quinn smiled, swinging her legs and having another handful of cereal.

Rachel slammed her door, grumbling.

_Stupid Quinn wants to play these kinds of games._

She yelled in her head as she took the towel from her hair and let it fall loose over her shoulders, brushing it angrily. She looked at the stopwatch lying on her bed, it read three hours. She grabbed it and threw it around her neck, punching her pillow quickly to get out her frustration. She threw her shirt over her head and pulled on a pair on jeans and stormed out of her room, slamming the door behind her. Quinn smiled, swinging her legs as she continued to eat cereal. Rachel grabbed her bag from the front door, opening it searching for her phone. Quinn knocked on counter, holding up her phone for Rachel to see. Angry, she walked over to her, holding out her hand and wiggling her fingers. Quinn placed it in her hand, Rachel continued towards the door, stubbing her toe on the table.

"A-" She stopped herself, looking back at Quinn who was smiling casually.

"Ssh." She reminded her. Rachel took in a deep breath, adjusting her bag on her shoulder and walking out the door, slamming it on Quinn's coy smile.

…

Rachel sat on the subway annoyed, digging through her bag as she tried to find her headphones. She looked at her phone, a new text message had appeared from an unknown number.

_Hey Rachie,_

Rachel rolled her eyes at the use of the nickname; it made her sound like a little kid.

_I took your headphones, I wont use them cause you know I'm deaf (insert your own insult here). But since your not talking, why don't you not listen either? Oh also don't expect any calls for a while I took your AT&T card, don't want any cheating now do we? ;)_

Rachel looked at her phone with confusion, until she saw the date of the text. It was three hours earlier then the actual time.

_Did Quinn go through my stuff?_

She sighed and fell back into her chair, banging her head against the back.

"Ugh." She groaned, rubbing the back of her head blindly. The subway stopped and Rachel rushed out, jogging to get to school on time. She finally made it to campus greeted by a waving Kurt. "Rachel!" She smiled waving back at him. "How's it going?" Rachel shook her head, continuing with her walk. "You're not speaking?" Rachel nodded. "Big audition? How could you not tell me this, I thought we where good friends Rachel, and good friends-" Rachel shook her head again, taking out the note she had prepared earlier from her pocket.

_I made a bet with Quinn that I wouldn't talk for a week. Don't worry._

Kurt let out a dramatic sigh. "What I wouldn't do for a silent roommate." Rachel eyed him curiously, nodding for him to go on.

"Did you know that I actually called for them to turn my Internet off? Santana spends so much time on Skype with Brittany, talking about dolphins or how hot she is or how much she hates rooming with me. Then it's silent again…" Kurt cringed, a disgusted look on his face. "And then its not…" Rachel started laughing, rapping her arm around him. "Thanks, but there are things a person cannot un-hear. Santana telling Brittany her rack is beautiful is one of them." Rachel pulled out her clothes pointing to them. "It wasn't a clothing rack Rach!" She smiled, shrugging.

"So anyway how are you and Quinn, getting along?" Rachel shook her head, shrugging. "Maybe if you two are on good terms we can go to the beach for the summer, and not bring Santana." Rachel smiled, giving Kurt the thumbs up. "But we have to bring Santana don't we?" Rachel nodded again, playfully slugging Kurt in the arm. "Hurts a lot less then Santana's nightlife."

**Day Three**

**…**

Quinn waltzed through the door with a new bag of Oreos and a pencil behind her ear. She stood on her tiptoes, pulling her bag from the cabinet and scooping her Oreos softly in it. Rachel skipped into the kitchen, nodding at Quinn and opening the refrigerator, and taking out a bottle of juice. Quinn tapped her on the shoulder, pointing to her stopwatch. Rachel looked at it sixty-six hours and thirteen minutes. Rachel gestured her hands to her lips smiling.  
"Ssh." Quinn rolled her eyes, stepping on Rachel's toes. "Q-" Quinn mockingly put her finger to her mouth.

"Ssh." She innocently walked away, waving from behind to Rachel, who took in an angry breath. She chased after Quinn, who was sitting in her beanbag a textbook open her lap. Rachel sat down next to her, pointing to her book. Quinn held it up; it was an advanced math book. Rachel made thumbs up sign and then thumbs down, shrugging. Quinn made thumbs up sign and smiled. Rachel's attention, however, was brought to the pile of drawings on Quinn's desk. She got up, walking over to them, Quinn watched her as she picked one up and looked at it in awe. It was a sketch of the tree outside; Rachel turned around and showed it to Quinn who shrugged. Rachel grabbed a blank piece of paper from her desk and ran back over to Quinn, sitting down beside her and placing her hands on her hips, smiling. Quinn gave her a confused look. Rachel took the pencil from her hand and mimicked drawing on the paper and then pointed to her. Quinn nodded, then shook her head, taking her pencil back and reading her textbook. Rachel grumbled, watching Quinn work on her math problems.

**Day Five**

**…**

"So Berry isn't speaking because?"

"Because she wants to impress her punk hot roommate." Rachel rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her coffee.

"So Berry's got a hot roommate? College affair?" Rachel kicked Santana under the table. She grumbled waving her hands in peace. "Fine whatever, but she's totally hot right?" Rachel kicked her again, Kurt laughed a little, placing a calming hand on Rachel's wrist.

"Please don't make her crazy, she'll spend all night expelling that energy."

"Oh please, like you don't do the same thing."

"I don't!" Rachel placed her hand on her cheek, looking out the window at the trees blowing in the breeze.

"_Now I see why Quinn spaces out all the time..."_ Rachel thought, startled by Kurt waving his hand in front of her face.

"Rachel?" She turned her head towards him, blinking a few times. "You're blanking out…" She sighed, pulling her hand down and glancing at her stopwatch, one hundred and eleven hours and twenty-three minutes done. She groaned, swinging her legs irritated.

"So Berry, It'd be pretty cool if you told us a little more about your roommate huh?" Rachel shook her head, shrugging.

_I really need better body language… _

"So lets see she is hot, deaf and likes drawing right?" Rachel nodded uninterested, taking a forced sip of coffee even though she had finished it ten minutes before. "That's great, eye candy, won't argue with all your crazy-" Santana shuttered at a more painful kick under the table then last time. She stayed quiet from then on out.

Santana smirked. "So you really won't talk at all will you?" Rachel nodded wearily. "Then since you hurt my knee from kicking it, could you get up and go get me another coffee please?"

_Don't think I don't know what your doing Santana… I know your plan._

Rachel gave a fake smile and slowly got up from the table, forcing herself to buy her another coffee.

"What can I get you?" The young man at the counter smiled, Rachel smiled back, leaning up and pointing at the large menu hanging from the wall.

"Uh what?" She pointed again, leaning a little higher on her toes to try and show it a little better.

"You want a smoothie?" She shook her head, pointing again. "A bagel?" She sighed, shaking her head again and pointing higher.

"Yeah sorry Miss, I'm going to need you to tell me what you want. Rachel grumbled, looking back to see Santana laughing. Kurt gave her a considerate smile and got up to help her.

"One large green tea please." Kurt smiled; Rachel gave him a curious look. "Yeah Santana hates green tea." Rachel let out a breathy laugh, handing the man her money. "And boy do I hate Santana." Kurt smiled dreamily, and so did Rachel when she spit out her drink.

**Day Seven**

**…**

Rachel was at the bookstore, pilling books into Kurt's hands. "You know." He started. "I'm starting to think you only hang out with me because you need a pack mule." Rachel rolled her eyes, taking one book off of Kurt and placing it under her arm. "Why do you need all these books anyway?" Rachel smiled teasingly, walking up to the cashier.

"Did you find everything okay?" She nodded, taking out her wallet to pay. She took the bag the cashier handed to her and happily skipped out of the store, the stopwatch around her neck bouncing around.

"How much time do you have left Rachel?" Kurt called after her; she turned around holding up ten fingers before gaining more speed and running down the street, leaving Kurt behind her angry.

"Rachel! I'd like my _wallet_ back!" Rachel pretending like she didn't hear him as she ran down to the subway station, she was more then exited to get back home.

…

"Quinn?" Rachel opened the door, all of the lights where off except for the faint light of a candle on the floor, Quinn was lying on her stomach, Oreo in her mouth as she drew a picture. Rachel kneeled on the ground next to her, Quinn turned her head, waving half heartedly.

"Hey, uh my time is up, so- Is that a candle?" Quinn turned her head back, looking at the candle and turning back to look at Rachel, shrugging. "Well,I can talk now…" Quinn nodded, waiting to see if Rachel had anymore to say.

"So look, I've been kind of a jerk." Quinn smiled faintly, nodding her head greatly. "I didn't realise how hard it was not talking, I talk a lot, a whole lot. But this week really taught me how hard it is, so thanks." Quinn punched Rachel in the arm playfully, going back to her drawing.

"No wait." Rachel tapped her on the shoulder, bringing the plastic bag from behind her and pulling out one of the books. "I'm not a good listener, its one of the reasons I'll be a star, and also one of the reasons I didn't have friends for three years in high school." Quinn choked on a laugh, leaning back on her elbow to see Rachel better. "But you're a good listener, even though you can't really hear." Quinn rolled her eyes, Rachel started to blush. "Uh sorry, I just mean, I want you to teach me sign language, so I can talk to you, because your actually kind of interesting." Quinn smiled, not being able to contain it this time, causing Rachel to smile too.

"Thanks Quinn." Quinn nodded, taking the pencil from the ground and writing the word 'sorry' on the floor. Rachel looked at her confused until Quinn held up what she had been drawing. It was a cartoon of Rachel, hanging over a boiling pot of water and Quinn cutting the rope

"That wasn't what I had in mind when I asked you to draw me…" Quinn smirked, turning her head away to the floor. Rachel mumbled something under her breath, Quinn turned her head to look up at her confused, Rachel smiled, waving her hands to signal that it wasn't important and at that moment Rachel was glad Quinn couldn't hear her.

**Goodness, Sorry this chapter is so long, unless you like long chapters then your welcome. I was actually going to do each day and make it a bit longer but when I started approaching the eight page marker I decided against it. If you really are curious about what happened on those days then maybe I'll make them a special one shot or come back to it later as a flashback in a different chapter. Hope your liking so far, if you have anything to say go ahead, reviews help me write better haha :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**The Sound That Silence Makes**

**Toot!**

When Quinn woke up, she was greeted by the strong smell of pancakes and chocolate. She quickly walked out of her room with her sketchbook in her hand and pencil behind her ear to see a smiling Rachel, cutting strawberries.

"Hello Quinn." Quinn gave a tired wave, ruffling her already messy hair and slightly pushing her bangs out of her face. "Do you know what today is?" Quinn put her arms to her side, blinking at Rachel before shaking her head. "Well, aside from it being the day I spend learning sign language with you… Today is December 11th, which means it officially starts my birthday week!" Quinn nodded sleepily, forcing herself to keep her eyes open. She made a way to the counter, sitting on it, pulling her pencil from behind her ear and flipped her sketchbook over, writing a message and holding it up like a sign for Rachel to see.

_You have a lot of weeks._

"No I don't Quinn."

_New Roommate Week_

"It was my first week here, how can you not celebrate that?" Quinn shook her head, while Rachel peeled a banana. She held up another sentence on her sketchbook.

_I just got a new dress week._

"That was a really cute dress Quinn, and it deserved the proper thanks for making me look even cuter." Rachel justified herself by squirting whip cream on a pancake, handing the plate of pancakes to Quinn. Quinn nodded, looking down at the large pancakes with fruit and whip cream, she was really hungry, but the way Rachel was smiling at her like she had a huge story to tell was very distracting to her hunger.

"My daddies invented birthday week when I was three. My family thought I would be spoiled to much if they gave me all my presents on my birthday, silly right?" Quinn rolled her eyes, looking up at Rachel when she handed her a fork. "So they spread it out over a week, and that's how it started!" She giggled, getting her own plate of pancakes and jumping on the counter next to Quinn.

"These are birthday pancakes' my daddies used to make them for me _all_ the time!" Quinn smiled slightly, Rachel was cute _sometimes_. "Why don't you tell me about _your _family?" Quinn took in an uneasy breath, darting her eyes away, luckily she was saved by a phone call. Rachel leaned oh her back slightly to reach her phone behind her, pulling it to her ear.

"Hello, hello Kurt."

"Hey Rachel, happy birthday week!"

"Glad to know you got the text I sent reminding you." Kurt laughed slightly, and Rachel could slightly hear Santana mocking him in the background.

"So what night club are we hitting Berry?" Santana's voice blasted through the phone.

"None Santana."

"Come on its your birthday one day this week, we're on winter break and I have a new dress that I am-"

"Why don't you come over Rach,?" Kurt cut Santana off, a much happier tone to his voice.

"And get your stuff!" Santana added. Rachel looked up from her plate of pancakes at Quinn, who looked uncomfortable.

"W-well, I don't really want to leave Quinn."

"Bring her!"

"Kurt I don't know if-"

"Call us later Berry!" Santana screamed before hanging up. Rachel took in a breath of confidence, sitting up a little straighter. She wasn't worried about Quinn meeting her friends, she was worried about her friends meeting Quinn.

"Do you…want to come meet my friends?" Quinn didn't answer, continuing to play with the pancakes on plate. Rachel took in another deep breath, poking her on the shoulder. She lifted her head confused.

"W-would you like to meet my friends?" Quinn squinted her eyes, opening her mouth like she was going to speak, but didn't move. "You don't have to but they're nice and they wanted to meet you and its more fun then learning sign language-" Quinn glared at Rachel who waved her hands in front of her. "Not like that, I just mean-" Rachel looked at Quinn who looked annoyed; she sighed bowing her head in defeat until her hair covered her face. "Never mind." She felt a tap on her shoulder a few seconds later, lifting her head to meet Quinn's gaze. "Yeah?" Quinn nodded her head, Rachel's face lit up suddenly.

"You mean it Quinn? I'm going to call Kurt right now!" Rachel jolted up, running into her room. When Quinn looked up again she noticed Rachel was gone, she sighed, shaking her head as she walked into her room. Rachel quickly dialed Kurt's phone number, leaning on her desk while it rang.

"That was fast Rachel, when I told you to call us-"

"Hey!" Rachel started, letting her contained enthusiasm burst out. "So Quinn wants to come!"

"Hopefully she is better then Santana, who likes to spend her free time watching those stupid Housewives shows." Rachel could hear Santana in the background yelling.

"You can sleep out in the streets if you want, I'm sure the dealers will accept your virginity as payment." Rachel stiffened a laugh.

"Shut up Santana!"

"So anyway!" Rachel broke in. "Quinn seems happy to come."

"And she's totally hot right Berry?" Santana's voice blasted through the phone.

"You and this Quinn girl seem to be really good friends." Kurt added. Rachel nodded to herself, walking over to sit on her bed.

"Yeah, I try."

"I mean you don't talk for a week just to be close to her."

"Not to be _close_ to her Kurt, it was a challenge, and Rachel Berry doesn't reject challenges." Rachel heard scrambling on the other end and Kurt yelling at Santana to go away before she was on the phone instead of him.

"Berry's got a crush!"

"Santana, put Kurt back on the phone." Rachel responded with boredom, falling back on her bed.

"Come on Berry, closeted lesbian, hot punk roommate, you know the score."

"Santana I'm not a 'closeted lesbian'" There was more noise on the other end and Kurt was back on the phone.

"Santana leave her alone."

"Shut it Hummel, give me the phone!" Rachel sighed, tapping the speakerphone button and tossing her phone away from her.

"Listen Berry-"

"Santana relax." Rachel said a little louder to make sure the speaker would pick it up." "I am _not_ a closeted lesbian…I just, haven't really decided yet."

"It's not a _menu_ Rachel, but if we're continuing with the food euphemisms you're not a hot dog fan."

"Santana!"

"Rachel, just ignore her." Kurt yelled into the phone above Santana's yelling. "Bring Quinn over around two and we'll introduce ourselves.

"Get some before you get over here Berry-" Santana was cut off when Rachel hung up the phone, taking a deep breath she sat up, walking out of her room and into Quinn's.  
"Quinn?" Quinn was sitting in her beanbag, reading a comic book. Rachel walked over to her, peering over her to see what she was reading. Quinn looked up, blinking a few times at Rachel, waiting for her to speak.

"My friends said we can come over around two, unless you don't want to then we can go later or-" Quinn nodded at her. "Yeah… " Quinn stared at Rachel for a few seconds, waiting for her to say something more, when she didn't she bowed her head down to look at her comic book. Rachel nodded to herself, slowly walking out of her room.

**...**

"So Quinn, my friends are a little…friendly, but I'm sure they'll like you just fine." Rachel said with a smile, looking up at Quinn who stuffed her face further into her scarf. Winter was here for sure; the cold wind and light snow fall just assured Rachel of that. Rachel held her jacket closer to her chest and pulled her hood further down her face her thoughts wandered. She fixed her gaze on Quinn's ironically cute and fluffy hat that looked like a dog.

"Its cold…" She sighed, pulling her fluffy yellow gloved further up her hands.

"It was nice of you to come on a walk with me Quinn." She smiled, looking up at her roommate who nodded contently. "Its good to know that you actually _leave _the house… Are you ever going to tell me what college you go to?" She didn't respond, but Rachel decided not to push and instead decided to try a conversation, she tapped her on the shoulder, getting her attention. When Quinn turned her head back towards her, she started to speak.

"You know winter is my favorite season." Quinn rolled her eyes; Rachel had a lot of favorite things.

"No really, my daddies used to take me out to build snowman, and snow angels. We used to go out to the park and have snow ball fights…" Rachel smiled at the memory, turning back at Quinn to see that she wasn't as happy. "What's wrong?" Quinn sighed, turning her head away from Rachel. She stopped, running in front of Quinn, placing her hands lightly on the other girl's shoulders to stop her. Quinn looked up, blinking a few times waiting for Rachel to speak.

"Have you never… done any of that stuff?" Quinn sighed, and that was answer enough for Rachel. "Why not!" Quinn leaned over the sidewalk, tracing two words in the snow, Rachel admired her creativity.

_My Parents_

"Oh…" Quinn stood back up, nodding sadly. "Well this isn't exactly my forte, as I love my daddies and they love me, so I'm not good with the whole family stuff- but do you want to build a snow man with me or something?" Quinn shrugged, but Rachel took it as a yes, pulling her into a giant hug. Quinn's immediate reaction was to raise her arms, as Rachel buried her head into Quinn's scarf. When she let go, she blushed at Quinn's shocked expression, feeling incredibly embarrassed.

"S-sorry, lets go!" Quinn didn't really want to say know, if that's what happened when Rachel was happy she didn't want to see what she was like when she was angry, so she nodded and Rachel's smile grew. Rachel quickened her pace slightly when she saw her friends. Kurt and Santana where (surprisingly) waiting outside of their apartment building, waving. Kurt and Santana never really got along during High School, and Rachel was very surprised when she had managed to convince him to stay with Santana, but the two where extremely close, and had a lot of similar interests, one of them was bugging the hell out of her.

"This your girlfriend Berry?" Santana called out, Quinn squinted her eyes, turning towards Rachel for confirmation of what just came out of Santana's mouth.

"Just ignore her." Rachel added, Quinn nodded, keeping her gaze fixed on Kurt, who was smiling brightly.

"Hello Quinn, Rachel has told us, so _little_ about you." He reached forward to shake her hand, which Quinn took slightly unwillingly.

"Would you guys stop it already!" Rachel grabbed Quinn by the sleve of her jacket, dragging her past her friends. She looked up at her, trying to hide her irratation. "My friends have a _problem_ with my single status, if they ask us if we're dating ignore it and tell me, so I can hit them." Quinn blinked her eyes, Rachel was speaking so fast and partly mumbling so that her friends couldn't hear her, Quinn only caught about half of what she said. Rachel released her jacket and stormed off behind her, shouting angrily to her friends. Quinn cocked her head, confused, squinting to try and make out what any of them were saying.

"Santana stop being nosy."

"Well then Berry, stop being so easy to nose."

"That doesn't even make sense Santana." Rachel crossed her arms, brushing past Quinn and rushing into the elevator, Kurt and Santana followed her, along with Quinn who looked completely confused.

"So Quinn!" Kurt shouted, jumping in front of Quinn's face, she gasped jumping back a little into the elevator wall. "Sorry…" He said, holding out his arms to try and steady her. "So is Rachel as annoying with you as she is with us?" Quinn shook her head, then paused and looked back at Rachel, who was yelling at Santana. The elevator door opened and Kurt walked down the hallway, opening his apartment door, revealing a room full of party decorations. Streamers hung from the walls, balloons floated everywhere and a comically large photo of Rachel hung on the wall.

"Oh you guys!" Rachel beamed, jumping around happily, Quinn squinted, shocked. "You didn't have to throw me a party!"

"We didn't." Santana replied simply, walking into through the door and plopping on the couch. "You came here yesterday and set this up, telling us if we took it down you'd make sure we'd regret it." Kurt nodded, sitting in the chair next to Santana, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, you did."

"Well since I wont be able to visit my family for the holidays this year, I needed something to remind myself that it was my birthday."

"So I guess the two-foot photo of you wasn't enough." Kurt replied, pointing to the photo of Rachel on the wall.

"Are you going to Lima soon?" Rachel asked, and they both nodded their heads.

"Next week, and since I'm going one day earlier that Santana, she'll have the place all to herself." Kurt cringed, looking at Rachel who completely ignored what he had just said.

"Let Birthday week begin!"

"Rachel there is no point in you asking about our lives if you just ignore it anyway." Kurt added.

"Ugh, this is going to be an all day thing isn't it, lets just start now." Santana complained, handing Quinn and Rachel each noisemakers. Quinn stared down at it, shaking it slightly in her hand.

"It's a toy Quinn, you just blow into it." Rachel spoke softly after tapping her on the shoulder to gain her attention. Quinn nodded, sucking in a giant breath and blowing.

"Wrong side Quinn…" Rachel explained, turning it over, she blew again, this time harder and the loud _toot_ like sound blasted the ears of everyone, but Quinn, who smiled proudly at the strained faces and covered ears of everyone. "Maybe I'll hold that…" Rachel grabbed the noisemaker from Quinn, still using her free hand to hold her ear.

"So what do you want to do Berry?" Santana sat back on the couch, propping her feet up, Rachel looked at her friends, no plan in mind.

"I surprisingly don't know…" She sighed, pouting a little.

"We could go outside." Kurt suggested, he was bored inside.

"Did you know that Quinn has never made a snowman?" Rachel nodded her head, Kurt turned his head in shock at the pink haired girl, who scratched her head, looking longingly at the noisemaker in Rachel's hands.

"You never made a snowman?" After Quinn didn't respond, Rachel tapped her lightly on the shoulder, getting her attention and pointing over to Kurt. She squinted, turning her head to the side. "Oh, you never made a snowman before?" Quinn shook her head and shrugged, going back to gazing at her noisemaker.

"Well why don't we go make one?"

"Because we're at the legal drinking age now, and don't need to go wasting time frolicking in the park building snowmen." Santana added with a raised finger. Kurt jumped up from the chair, already exited.

"Well the _legal _drinking age thing never stopped _you_ did it now? Lets go build a snowman!" Kurt cheered with a raised fist, Rachel rolled and Quinn did too, after confusion. Santana got up from the couch with a sigh, mumbling under her breath.

"Stupid Berry's birthday week."

...

Rachel, Quinn, Santana and Kurt had somehow found their way to the park. There was a thin layer of snow on the ground and Rachel was already hard at work for being no less then an inch of snow to actually _work_ with.

"Okay Quinn, this is really easy, you just get a little snow ball like this." Rachel knelt to the ground, patting snow together in a tight snowball, before placing it on the ground and rolling it, slowly hopping behind it. "Then you just roll it like this." Quinn watched with a raised eyebrow and hands on her hips, not quite believing that her college roommate was rolling snowballs.

"See Quinn!" She called out.

"Oh she sees." Santana rolled her eyes at the frog-hopping brunette. Rachel looked behind her to make sure Quinn was paying attention. She wasn't. "Quinn?" Rachel ran up to her, tapping her lightly on the shoulder. Quinn turned to look at her, shrugging.

"Don't you think this is fun?" Quinn shook her head, kicking the snow at her feet lightly. "Well that's because you're not even trying." Rachel grumbled, grabbing Quinn's wrist and pulling her back to her snowball, lying on the ground. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, looking Quinn dead in the eyes.

"Push it." Quinn let out a large and over the top sigh, walking slowly up to the snowball. Santana and Kurt both held in a laugh. Quinn turned back around, making sure Rachel was serious, and she was. Quinn squatted down and gave the snowball a soft push.

"Harder Quinn!" Quinn continued to push the snowball, turning around, surprised by Rachel's shocked expression. She squinted her eyes, confused.

"Well this is getting a little-" Kurt was cut off by Rachel, getting a little to exited.

"I said _harder_ Quinn. You're not a five year old." Rachel grumbled, pushing Quinn to the side and rolling the ball herself. "Are you going to help me, help you have _fun_?" She said while looking back at Quinn, who slowly walked over to her, unenthusiastically waving her fist up and down trying to cheer.

"Very funny Mrs. Fabray, but we're not leaving here until this snow ball is giant!" And they did. There wasn't actually enough snow on the ground, but Rachel wasn't giving up because of _that_ setback. The two girls (followed by Santana and Kurt) pushed the snowball through the sidewalks, streets, parking lots, getting strange looks from parents and kids as the started picking up grass and another lovely things from the ground. Rachel was actually leaning on the snowball by her back, pushing with her feet, she was not very strong.

"See Quinn, this is…fun!" Rachel struggled to get the words out, trying to roll their snowball over the small bridge; luckily it was down hill. Quinn hadn't actually started helping until the ball became bigger then the size of Rachel.

"Your actually very strong Quinn." Rachel glanced over and smiled shyly at Quinn, who nodded. "Do you know where we are?" Rachel asked, Quinn responded with a shake of her head. She stopped pushing the snowball and leaned on it instead, catching her breath. Rachel began to climb it, sitting on top of it like an exercise ball.

"Did we seriously push this thing around all day? I guess I am a little crazy…"

"Yes you are, I didn't even push the thing and I'm tired."

"Probably from all of your complaining." Kurt rolled his eyes, "I'm more surprised no one stopped us..." Rachel laughed, falling across the snowball.

"I'm I really _this_ tiny?"

"Yes." Santana assured her. Quinn looked up, seeing Rachel's jacket pocket inches away from her face, making sure no one was looking, she slipped her hand in and pulled out her noisemaker, stuffing it in her own pocket.

"Its 5:00 really? We pushed that thing around for two hours?" Rachel jolted up, looking around like someone was trying to kill her.

"Is that the time? Shoot, I'm late for dance practice!" She hopped off the snowball, before Quinn stopped her, pointing back to the snowball. "I don't have time Quinn." She shook her head, leading Rachel back on the snowball and backing up a few steps, squinting her eyes. "Quinn really?" Quinn remained still for a few minutes before nodding and waving her arms telling her to go. Rachel smiled and nodded, waving goodbye to her and her friends, running off down the street. Quinn turned towards Kurt and Santana and waved, mouthing the words 'thank you'.

"Sure Quinn, see you later." Kurt smiled, waving.

"Bye, have fun with Berry." Quinn nodded, a little confused and took off after Rachel.

...

Rachel walked back from dance class through the snow-covered streets of New York, the light snowfall blowing softly into her face with the cold wind. She had been thinking all day about what to get Quinn for Christmas.

"What to get…" She sighed, pulling her fluffy yellow gloved further up her hands. Quickening her pace as she approached her building she shivered, rushing into the door.

"How is it colder in here then it is outside?" She asked herself while hitting the number five on the elevator buttons. She fumbled in her pockets, searching for her key when she got out, carefully unlocking the door. Quinn greeted her when she walked in, standing readily in the hallway holding two cups of something warm. "Hey Quinn." Quinn gave a small nod, holding out one of the cups in her hands. "What's this?" Quinn darted her eyes towards the chocolate syrup on the counter while Rachel took of her jacket. "Oh hot chocolate?" Quinn nodded, Rachel reached for the cup but Quinn slid her hand back, shaking her head.

"Quinn please can I have that, I am _freezing_, can you imagine what would happen if I froze? It would be like a Berry Popsicle!" Quinn smirked a little, placing both of the cups in her hand on the counter, turning around and opening the refrigerator. Rachel peered over the counter, noticing all of the chocolate items there where. White chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, chocolate syrup, chocolate milk, the only thing that wasn't chocolate was the bag of marshmallows that where spilling out over the floor, and two pink colored candy canes in the middle of the chocolate explosion.

"What the- How do you eat all of this?" Quinn caught a glimpse of Rachel mid sentence; she cocked her head, placing the bottle of whip cream in her hands on the counter, looking back up at Rachel, expressionless. "Quinn, this can't be healthy." She squinted her eyes, then shrugged, plopping marshmallows into both cups of hot chocolate. Proud of herself, she squirted whip cream into both of them, before squirting some on her finger and placing it in her mouth. Rachel reached out to take her cup, but Quinn smacked her hand away.

"You know Quinn, that actually really hurts." Quinn looked at her hand and tapped it gently, shrugging. Rachel rolled her eyes, watching as Quinn squirted chocolate syrup all over the whip cream, before placing a candy cane in both cups. Smiling at herself she handed it to Rachel.

"Warmth…" She closed her eyes and whispered dreamily, pressing her hands harder to the cup. Quinn giggled softly, grabbing her cup she found her way to her normal spot on the floor, sitting cross-legged she placed her cup on the ground, looking up when Rachel sat across from her.

_Hey Rachel_

Quinn slid her notebook towards Rachel, who looked up with a small smile on her face.

"Yes Quinn?" Quinn pulled her notebook back to her, scribbling another message on the page.

_You didn't just do all this stuff with me today to skip sign language practice did you?_

Rachel darted her eyes around the room, shaking her head.

"Of course not Quinn."

_Well Good_

Quinn smiled coyly, pointing across the room to a pile of different colored paper, with drawings and artistic words drawn across them.

_We start now_

Quinn pulled a noisemaker from her pocket, blowing into it with a loud _toot_ right into Rachel's face.

"You took that!" She gasped, with exaggerated shock; Quinn nodded and blew it again.

**I never mentioned this before but each chapter has about a 2-3 week gap between the previous one, unless otherwise stated. Sorry this took so long, I've been busy. But I've been trying to make long chapters, as you like them ;) Tell me what you think :) Rachel starts sign language training next chapter, as do the holidays. What do you think they'll get each other for there respected holiday gifts? And some specials guests will drop by, try and guess who they may be :) Next chapter will be out soon, probably in about five days, until then. Thanks for reading :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**This chapter only takes place a few days after the previous one and obviously at Christmas, enjoy :)**

**The Sound That Silence Makes**

**Pat, Pat, Pat**

"No way." Rachel shook her head, quaking like she had seen a ghost, but she had seen something much worse, Santa Clause. "I'm not getting near him." Quinn lifted her hands confused. "Okay this is going to sound really…childish, but I have a phobia of Santa." Quinn squinted her eyes then burst into laughter, holding her stomach, not even caring that half the mall was now looking at them. "Its not so much like I'm _scared_ of them, it's just something about their big smiles and cheerful attires that just… irks me." Quinn continued to laugh, earning a scowl from Rachel.

"Its- it's not funny, he is very…weird looking. And there is no way he can get _that_ fat off of just cookies, I bet he eats children, he 'brings' them gifts in that giant bag of his, puts them by the tree and then stuffs the children in the bag! What their _parents should_ be getting them is a rape whistle, I wouldn't mind one myself, I asked Santana to get me one when we moved here but she said gangs would take on look at me 'grape sized boobs' and would be immediately turned off." Rachel huffed, crossing her legs and kicking at the ground. Quinn stifled a laugh, pushing Rachel by the shoulders further in the line.

"Quinn this place is packed, its Christmas Eve and we're the only people besides the moms, that are over the age of ten years old, why is this so important?" Quinn shook her head, smiling when the child who was on Santa's lap jumped off and was hurried off by his mother. "Quinn Fabray if you make me do this I swear I will-" With one push Rachel was forced into the personal space of Santa who gave her a smile.

"And what would you like for Christmas little girl?"

"I would like my roommate to let me leave, and also I'm Jewish." Rachel turned around, but Quinn shook her head, turning her back around by the shoulders and pointing her finger at the Santa. "Fine Quinn, one picture and you owe me _big_ time." She took in a deep breath, cringing when she stood awkwardly next to the man in the Santa costume.

"You can sit, I don't bite." He smiled; Rachel scowled, crossing her arms for the third time in the last five minutes.

"Yes…But I do." The Santa didn't seem to take the hint, and sat up in his seat. "Quinn I refuse to sit down." The pink haired girl shook her head, pointing angrily at the Santa, until finally grabbing Rachel by the shoulders and slamming her down on Santa's lap.

"See that wasn't so bad was it?" The man in the Santa costume smiled.

"Quinn will you take the picture." Quinn shook her head, lifting her hands. "You don't even have a camera!" Quinn nodded, smiling. "Then why would you make me do this?" Rachel jolted up from her seat, brushing herself off. Quinn pointed to the sign next to them reading 'Sit and get a free candy cane!'

"If you just wanted candy then why didn't _you _sit?" Quinn pointed lower on the sign, which read 'Only for children 12 and under.'

"Quinn if you think I'm passing for twelve you are very-"

"Here you go little girl." A lady in an elf costume came up to Rachel, smiling, (why were they _all_ smiling?) handing her a pink candy cane. Rachel looked down, at her fuzzy pink sweater that went past her knees and thick black stalking, ending where her purple shoes with large white bows started, she groaned. Quinn smiled and grabbed the candy cane out of her hands, happily walking away, motioning with her hands for Rachel to follow her.

…

"Merry Christmas Quinn!" Rachel smiled, waving her hands when Quinn exited her room and walked into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes and holding a stack of paper in her hands. Quinn was surprisingly wearing non-ripped clothing even though her black sweater had a pink skull on it, the skull did have a pink bow on it, that was okay right? Rachel however, was unsurprisingly wearing monkey pajamas, and a flower apron. Quinn hated that flower apron.

"Now I know what your thinking, 'Rachel you have me listen to you talk about the history of Hanukkah for a whole two weeks and now your saying Merry Christmas?'" Quinn rolled her eyes. That was not at all what she was thinking. In fact she was thinking about how much she hated that apron. "Well my daddies taught me all about respecting other traditions, and even though I never celebrated 'Christmas' in itself, I still do many things like bake cookies and help others, donate clothes and go to the animal shelter…" Quinn perked up, smiling hopefully, she couldn't imagine Rachel as that type of helpful person, and she always thought she was a little… "Yes and I'll inform you that even though I don't technically celebrate Christmas, I still except a gift." Selfish. Rolling her eyes, Quinn propped herself on the counter, setting down her papers next to her, waiting as Rachel (and her annoying flower apron) ran around the kitchen, tossing ingredients into bowls, Quinn didn't mind though; it made the whole room smell sweet. Rachel turned around, sighing at Quinn's evil glare.

"Quinn, don't let my yearly tradition of baking holiday cookies distract us from your teachings. Besides, you celebrate Christmas, shouldn't you be more exited?" Quinn shrugged, clearing her throat, which Rachel laughed at unnecessarily. She held up the first paper in the pile. It was yellow, and had a (very realistic) drawing of a hand waving; at the bottom of the page was a very large drawing of the word 'hello'.

"Quinn two things, first you got these things laminated?" Quinn nodded proudly, causally dusting off the surface on the next card in the pile. "And second, I think I know how to say 'Hello', we've been doing this for a few days remember?" Quinn nodded understandingly, darting her eyes to the side to show her own mistake, turning the paper over she smiled to reveal a new side done in blue with a different hand waving with the word 'goodbye' drawn at the side.

"Really Quinn? Hello and goodbye are the same things." Quinn shook her head, wiggling her finger back and forth at Rachel like she was a child who did something very stupid. "Yes it is!" Quinn took in a deep breath putting her paper down and waving at Rachel before shrugging.

"That was obviously hello." Rachel crossed her arms over her chest boldly, turning her head to the side and closing her eyes to show just how sure she was. She opened her eyes to Quinn, who was shaking her head. "What do you mean it wasn't?" Quinn smiled coyly, moving on to the next card. This one was a pink with the word 'A' drawn at the bottom; a large hand doing the sign for the letter 'A' was drawn in the middle of the page.

"Okay, got it." Rachel said with false confidence, turning back around to scoop chocolate chips into a bowl. Quinn rolled her eyes, tapping on the counter and waving the paper around. "Yes Quinn I said I got it." Quinn sighed, placing the card on the counter. "What? Do you want me to do it?" Quinn nodded, Rachel grumbled, wiping her hands on her apron.

"Fine then." She looked at her hand, wiggling her fingers, she had already forgotten. Quinn's smirk only angered her more, and she stomped her foot, throwing her hands down to her sides. "Well _Quinn_ I am a hands on learner, and your flashcards do not properly stimulate my brain." Quinn shrugged, hoping down from her spot on the counter and grabbing Rachel's hand she slid it into a fist, softly moving her thumb to the side of her pointer finger.

"Uh thanks…" Quinn shrugged, sliding her hands into her pockets, yawning. "What? Am I boring you?" Quinn nodded, jumping back onto the counter. "You're the one teaching me. But listen, once these cookies are done, we'll have enough to take around, would you like to come with me?" Quinn jumped down from the counter again, taking the bowl of cookie dough and a spoon from the drawer scooping it like it was ice cream and sliding it in her mouth.

"Quinn! You can't eat that, first it's unhealthy and second it's not for you!" Quinn shrugged, scooping more. "Great, now you've got your saliva all over it, now I have to make more, give me that!" Rachel yanked the bowl away from her, grumbling. Quinn shrugged, walking off to her room, but not before taping a large doodle of Santa to her door.

"Oh come on Quinn, you know I'm scared of that guy!" But it was no use; Rachel would be forced to look at the evil twinkle in Santa's eye until she finished the rest of the cookies. Quinn appeared from her room ten minutes later, wearing her jacket, ripped jeans and with moderately brushed hair, rushing out the front door.

"For your sake I hope your rushing out to get me a present!"

…

When Quinn got back she immediately looked around for Rachel, banging on the wall a few times to try and get her attention, with no luck she pulled her noise maker out of her pocket, blowing into it. Rachel came running out of her room, finger in her ear as if she was trying to get water out if it.

"Quinn, that thing has to be the worst possible device ever created, and if I didn't know any better I would swear you-" Another blow from the noise maker cut Rachel off, she groaned, covering her ears and squinting her eyes shut. "-Were blowing it just to make me mad." Quinn pointed to the plates of cookies in plastic rap on the counter. "Yes, I was waiting for you…where did you go anyway?" Quinn rolled her eyes, grabbing a plate of cookies and holding the door open waiting for Rachel. "You know what would be a great present?" The brunette smiled, grabbing the remaining plates and walking out the door, waiting, as Quinn locked it behind them. "If you told me what college you go to." Quinn sighed, shaking her head. Walking down the snow covered streets with the noon sun supplying absolutely no warmth was not the kind of fun day Quinn had thought they would be having. She was hungry, and Rachel flaunting a plate of fresh cookies in front of her face was not helping her at all.

"Quinn, stop looking at the cookies like some sort of animal, I would have given you one expect you ate an entire bowl of cookie dough and this isn't the first time either. That stuff is bad for you, you know that right?" Quinn shook her head, crossing her arms after pulling her hat further over her head.

"It's a wonder your not dead or diabetic by now, really you need to eat better. How would you like it if I made you something healthy? Like a salad for instance." Quinn's face immediately scrunched at the word 'salad." She shook her head, sticking out of tongue in disgust. "Stop being a child Quinn, I'm going to make you something green, that isn't made of processed sugar." Quinn rolled her eyes, turning her head to partly try and figure out where they were, and a little to stop listening to Rachel, but turned back when she felt a light tap on her arm.

"Hey Quinn, why aren't you going back home?" The pink hair girl squinted, flicking her eyes away when she was sure of what Rachel had said. "I'm staying because my daddies and I both agreed that I should stay for the winter, simply because I have play rehearsal right after break and I went back for Thanksgiving and its good to save money, I miss them so much though…" Quinn nodded, although she wasn't even looking at Rachel. "So why are you staying- Oh look." Rachel stopped in front of a streetlight, eyes drifting to a wallet lying on the ground next to it.

"That's strange, a wallet in the middle of New York city and no one picked it up- Quinn what are you doing?" Quinn had crouched down on the sidewalk and picked up the wallet, holding it up to her face to further examine it.

"Who leaves wallets on the ground that no one picks up? It could be drugs, or a bomb, or poison or some sort of HIV injection and if we touch it-" Quinn stood up and walked back to Rachel, handing her the plate of cookies in her hands. "Quinn, I can't believe you, what if they come back and see you with it? They'll kill us, and it'll be your fault and then I'll be dead and guess what, you'll be dead too and then I can't kill you again because we're both dead-" Rachel was silenced by a slap to the face by Quinn who didn't even lift her eyes. Rachel groaned and rubbed her cheek, watching with a glare as Quinn went through the mysterious wallet.

"Quinn stop messing around with that seriously, you have no idea where that's been!" Quinn took out a ten-dollar bill and shoved it in her pocket, continuing her search. "That's stealing Quinn." She rolled her eyes and took the pen from behind her ear, quickly writing a message on the palm of her hand.

_I'm taking my reward for finding the wallet._

"Your logic is- what are you even looking for anyway? A driver's license? Yes that's perfect we can find his address and make sure to avoid it because he'll know that you _stole_ his money and shoot us, and chances are he'll shoot you first because you're the thief and then I'll not only die, but be forced to watch your head explode-"

"You are not serious its not here!" Rachel turned her head to see the back of a man's head, looking around the street light. Quinn turned around, seeing the man looking around feverishly, she reached down and picked up a lose stone on the ground and chucked it at his back.

"Quinn!"

"Ouch!" The man grabbed at the air around his back and turned around, Rachel's eyes immediately widened.

"Jesse?"

"Rachel?" The man ran up to her, smiling and slightly laughing, holding up his hand to the back of his head. "Wow, I haven't seen you in like-"

"Three years!" Rachel finished for him, adding to his laugh, Quinn crossed her arms, grumbling. "Oh sorry this is my roommate Quinn." Rachel gestured with her hands as if presenting a statue at Quinn, smiling brightly. Jesse out stretched his hand to her but she looked away, shaking her head.

"Okay then… So anyway, Rachel how have you been?"

"Good, but what are you doing here, its Christmas?"

"You mean here in New York or here at the street light?" Rachel giggled a little, looking to Quinn with glistening eyes that just screamed 'isn't he charming and hilarious?' Quinn hated him even more.

"Both, I guess."

"Well I live in California, but I came here for vacation, going to catch a Broadway show or too."

"You should see Evita, its really good."

"Really? Well maybe I will, but actually I'm in a bit of a hurry, I'm trying to find my wallet…" Quinn slowly slid her hands to her back; resting the urge to toss the wallet randomly into the bushes, fetch Jesse...

"Oh Quinn found a wallet, is it your?" Rachel leaned back to see Quinn hiding the wallet, nudging her with her elbow. "Come on Quinn." Quinn grumbled, forcing herself to hand the wallet to Jesse who gave her a quick smile.

"Well I guess I'm not in a hurry anymore am I?"

"I guess not." The both laughed and Quinn angrily blew the bangs out of her face. "Do you want to get some coffee or something?"

"Sure, I've got a few minutes to kill." Rachel smiled and quickly shoved the plates of cookies into Quinn's hands with a smile, she walked off with Jesse.

"Come on Quinn!" She nodded, following with a slight frown.

…

It had been far more then 'a few minutes' and Quinn had already given up on having a conversation with either of the two, not like she wanted one with Jesse and was sitting on the bench with the cookies by her side, drawing random symbols on her arm with her pen.

"Okay, okay, so let's do it again." Rachel smiled as her and Jesse frolicked around the park the snow making a quiet 'patting' noise under their shoes. Quinn sighed, taking a sip of her hot chocolate, turning her head away from the dancing duo.

"Well I better get home to Claire, she'll be mad if I miss dinner."

"Oh well bye." Rachel gave him a quick hug. "Congrats on your engagement by the way." He nodded, waving at her as he made his way through the grass to the street.

"Thanks, see you later!" Rachel waved until she couldn't see him anymore from across the street; she made her way back to the bench where Quinn had been.

"Hey Sorry, that was my old- Quinn?" But Quinn was gone, only a plate of cookies and an empty Starbucks cup in her place.

…

"Hello Quinn." Rachel scowled from the doorway with her hands on her hips when Quinn entered. "Glad to see your okay after leaving for three hours." Quinn shrugged her off, easily brushing by her and into her room.

"Quinn, you take off randomly leaving me to deliver cookies to scary elder men, who ironically are usually scared of me, not only that but you left me without saying anything, I thought you were hurt" Quinn shrugged, jumping back first on her bed and pulling the comic book on the floor and covering her face with it, not actually interested in reading it.

"Why did you do that Quinn? I was looking forward to walking with you…" Quinn pushed the comic book further over her eyes, trying to resist the urge to listen to what Rachel had to say. "Fine then, but know that I don't forgive you Quinn, I wont ever forgive you- what's that?" Rachel's attention drifted to a small box on her desk with a large pink bow on it. She carefully walked over to it, gently placing it into her hands. "Is this for me?" Quinn pulled the comic book down and threw it to the floor, squinting her eyes at Rachel. "Did you get this for me?" Quinn nodded slightly and turned her body to face the wall away from Rachel. The brunette sighed, carefully taking the bow off the box and opening it, smiling slightly when she saw a childish pink whistle on a string, she took it out, letting the string hand off her fingers.

"Quinn…" She stopped herself, looking at the note left at the bottom of the small box, taking it out and unfolding it.

_It would be sad if you got attacked, you would be all emotional and always complaining. So don't._

_-Quinn_

Rachel held back a bigger smile and settled for the small one, turning back to look at Quinn who had thrown her blankets over her head. She sighed a frown quickly conquering her smile and slowly turned to leave her room, shutting the door softly behind her.

**Okay this took so long, sorry. This is my last week of school so I won't be tied down by homework and exams, so i'll update faster. There wasn't much sign language training in this chapter but there should be some more next chapter. It'll be New Years next chapter by the way, hooray! Anyway thanks for all your feedback and favorite story stuff ect, glad your enjoying the story, reviews are helpful :) See you soon!**


	6. Chapter 6

**The Sound That Silence Makes **

_**Eek!**_

New Years had been nothing but a bust. Running around the whole day trying to find the perfect decorations only to end the day half heatedly screaming 'Happy New Year' in the un-happiest way possible was not giving her the biggest hopes for the upcoming year. Actually, she was tired of _this _year, and wanted it to be over. Schoolwork was piling up, talks about the future and graduating… and then there was Quinn. Rachel was surprised over and over again at how she operated. One moment she was shoving her through the crowd and sitting her on Santa's lap to get a piece of candy, to suddenly ignoring her for a week. She hadn't said a word to Rachel for seven days, well no more then usual, but she had been outright ignoring her. No glances, no notes, she even stopped eye contact completely after a few days. It wasn't like she did anything wrong. Did she?

"Why so glum Berry?" Santana smirked, nudging Rachel in the ribs, sitting herself down on the couch next to her, placing a bowl of popcorn in her lap. Rachel was glad to have Santana and Kurt back, and with only three days left until school started up again she was having a much-needed break.

"Santana, would it kill you to play anything but these ridiculous movies." Kurt groaned as her fell onto the couch as well, forcing Rachel to be in the middle of the two. Santana kicked her feet up on the small table in front of them, turning up the volume on the television.

"No more Judy Garland Hummel, if that chick loves rainbows so much she should just-"

"Quinn's ignoring me." Rachel stated simply and quietly, her face down and eyes focused on her hands. Santana and Kurt looked at each other before both their gazes dropped to Rachel.

"Well you probably deserved it." Rachel immediately looked up, the sad look in her eyes slowly changing to annoyance.

"What?"

"Santana has a point Rachel, I can't help but feel that you're the trigger." Kurt chimed in after a quick bite of popcorn. "You do have a tendency to be a little-"

"Bitchy?" Santana offered, her reward being a soft pinch in the arm from Rachel. Kurt shook his head softly.

"No… I was going to say, a little bit naïve. You don't always know when you bother someone." He turned his attention back to his sad looking friend, giving her arm a soft pat. "What happened?" He asked conversationally, but the look on his face told Rachel that he was a little less then interested.

"Last week, after we ran into Jesse-"

"Jesse St. Jackass?" Santana interrupted, leaning forward in her seat, Rachel nodded, although her eyes were focused on the floor. "Why the hell were you with him, and why didn't you tell _us_?"

"We just ran into him, and found his wallet on the sidewalk, it was purely coincidental, I found no reason to mention it, and you guys got back _yesterday_. Anyway, we just talked and then Quinn disappeared and when she came back home she went straight to her room and then I opened the present she got me-"

"Oh what did she get you?" Kurt smiled, suddenly a lot more interested. Rachel was a bit annoyed that its what caught his attention, but she pulled the pink whistle out from her neck to show her friends.

"This."

"She got you a _whistle_?" Santana snickered. "Come on really?"

"It was very sweet Santana, when I asked you for a whistle and you made a snide remark and got me a note that said 'I got you earrings but they looked better on me so happy holidays!'" Santana laughed at the memory, nodding to her self.

"And what did you get her?" Kurt asked after Santana had stopped laughing.

"I got her some chocolate and a bracelet…" She trailed off, distracted by Kurt's disapproving eyes. "What? What's wrong with that!" He sighed and motioned for her to continue.

"Anyway the next morning when I asked if she wanted to practice Sign Language she ignored me, then she left and didn't come back until late at night, same thing the next day."

"Why do I feel like your leaving crucial moments out of the story?" Rachel frowned at Kurt's comment, still playing with the whistle on her neck.

"You didn't kiss Jesse did you?" Santana questioned to which Rachel immediately shook her head wildly.

"Of course not!"

"So then…he kissed you?" Rachel rolled her eyes and leaned back further into the couch, closing her hands lightly into fists.

"There was no kissing of any kind, he is engaged for one thing, I'm classy, I don't kiss without a reason, especially someone who is taken."

"Classy enough to give you V-card up to a stack of pancakes." Santana mumbled under her breath, receiving another pinch from Rachel.

"Santana we all know you disliked Finn, and now he is gone and we won't see him again until the summer probably, so why continue to mention it?"

"Because it's just so damn funny."

"Wait did you say engaged?" Kurt raised an eyebrow, popping another few popcorn pieces in his mouth. Rachel nodded, shrugging her shoulders in confusion. "To who?" Rachel ran her finger around the whistle on her neck, her eyes focused to the ceiling before she shook her head.

"I don't know, Claire something, does it really matter, we don't know her."

"No…" Kurt trailed off; his hand paused at his mouth as he circled a popcorn piece in his fingers. "I suppose it doesn't."

"You're thinking about something, what are you thinking about?"

"Nothing, just…when did Quinn start ignoring you again?" Rachel narrowed her eyes, taking in a sharp breath.

"About a week ago, after we saw Jesse, I know you guys don't usually listen to my ranting but you could at least_ try_ and remember what I said five minutes ago."

"Something about how hot I looked last night right?" Santana offered, throwing popcorn in the air as she tried and failed to catch it in her mouth.

"No Santana, I don't remember saying that. Anyway, spill Kurt."

"Its not important now, if I'm right I'll find out later." Rachel rolled her eyes immediately at Kurt's deflection and turned her attention back to the TV. After a few minutes of silence an idea popped into her head.

"Why don't I _make_ her stop ignoring me?"

"What?" Both her friends said with similar looks of worry and distress on their faces.

"Like ask her what's wrong and move on?" Kurt tried but Rachel was already lost in thought.

"I could bribe her into talking to me, like 'here's a new watch you can have it if you talk to me.'"

"Ugh, you guys are like some crappy sitcom, it's annoying as hell, all we heard on New Years Eve was 'why didn't Quinn come, I invited her but she's not here.' And now all we here is 'Quinn's ignoring me, boohoo.'" Santana rolled her eyes, stuffing popcorn in her mouth while she began casually flipping through channels. "Why don't we have any good channels?"

"Because its cable or air conditioning, or unless you'd like to pay for something extra that's not new shoes."

"No need to buy shoes when I can just borrow from you." Santana shrugged only partially joking. Rachel resisted the urge to laugh, she was surprised at how well her friends had suddenly gotten along, they were closer then they wanted to admit, it was funny. But that thought only reminded Rachel of her roommate ignoring her, and what she was going to do to make her stop.

**…**

Quinn lay sprawled out on her usual spot on the floor, her arms and legs spread wide and relaxed. She looked like she had fallen out of space and splattered on the floor. She felt like she had splattered on the floor. She reached for the bag of cookies next to her that were, not surprisingly just out of reach. She tried using her fingertips to and bring it closer, trying to exert as little energy as possible, groaning when she failed and rolled over on her side, having a staring contest with the bag of cookies. Should she reach for it? Should she not? Should she reach for it? She should. She slowly got up, grabbing the box of cookies and settling herself down on the counter, crossing her legs and nestling the cookie box in her lap. She watched the crumbs fall onto the counter or sometimes her jeans, it was relaxing for her. She leaned her head against the wall, closing her eyes softly.

This week had been horrible if anything. First her roommate ditches her for some random guy on the street. Then she doesn't even care that she has been ignoring her. Was Rachel trying to do this all along, had she ever really cared about her? An approaching brunette halted her thoughts, with the widest grin on her face.

"Good afternoon Quinn." Rachel waved with a forced smile to which Quinn immediately turned her head. This had been going a lot lately, Rachel would try to communicate and Quinn would shun her. Great.

"I got some pie from the store, I don't care much for pie myself but I thought you might enjoy it." Rachel tried with elaborate sweetness to her voice, taking out the large pie from her shopping bag and setting it on the counter. "Maybe you could have a slice of this pie, if you asked of course…" Quinn glanced quickly to the pie on the counter, but then back into space. Rachel let out a contained sigh, walking over to her. "Oh look at this pie Quinn, I think I'll set it here… right in front of you. No, you can't have any, because you didn't ask, but what you _can_ have is it in your sights, now you can always look at this pie and think 'what if I had just stopped ignoring Rachel? Then maybe this pie could very well be mine- hey!" Quinn, without even looking up, had swiped the pie out off the counter and was making her way to the window, sliding it open as she balanced the pie in her hands, she let it fall from her finger tips and out the window.

"You didn't!" Rachel screamed, rushing towards the window only being able to see the pie disappear from her view. "Quinn Fabray!" She screamed, throwing her fists by her side and straitening herself out, she actually looked more scared the angry. "Now you owe me a pie Quinn, that's right I said you _owe _me a pie, you know what owing requires Quinn? It requires an 'O' do you know what _else_ requires and 'O'? That's right, 'OPRESSION', and you, Quinn Fabray, are oppressing me with your ridiculous antics and your stupid stunt, you know what Quinn? I will never give you another pie AGAIN, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, do you want a pie? Well that is really terrible for you because the ever continues Quinn, it continues for EVER, and ever and ever!" Rachel was now senselessly shouting 'ever' and whipping her arms around, her face had become increasingly redder and she looked like she wasn't going to run out of 'evers' ever. Quinn took it as an opportunity to walk away, off into her room.

"Fine Quinn, fine! See if I care, walk away Quinn, go ahead, walk away _forever_!" Rachel stopped talking and started panting, looking at Quinn's closed door. What had just happened? She bought a pie, gave it to her, well she didn't technically _give_ it to her, she offered to her for a simple trade. A look for a slice, a piece for peace.

"A piece for peace." Rachel mumbled to herself, crossing her arms and shaking her head disapprovingly at her own thoughts. "What am I doing?" She decided then, that it would be easier to talk to her friends about it rather then fight her subconscious and scurried off into her room, pulling her cell phone from her pocket she quickly dialed Santana's number.

"What do you want Berry?"

"Advice…"

"Wait what?" Santana sounded shocked, Rachel didn't normally ask her for advice, mostly because she didn't normally give it, and although it pained her to admit it, she needed a kick in the ass to set her in the right direction.

"I said I need advice from you, Quinn is still ignoring me, and I'm sick of it."

"Well then say your _sorry_ and don't pretend like you 'already did' because I know you didn't."

"Yes well… I don't know _what_ I did." There was a momentary silence on the other line before Santana spoke again.

"Let me get Kurt, he'll help."

"Okay." Rachel nodded, but she knew that Santana was probably just trying to escape a feelings conversation.

"Okay we're both here." Santana added again after another silence.

"Hey Kurt-"

"Rachel, apologize."

"I don't know what I did!"

"Are you sure your not over looking anything? You do that often." Kurt questioned. "You do remember what happened the first week you moved in right?" Santana quickly jumped in, slightly laughing.

"_I_ remember, you called us and sounded like a complete idiot. 'Hey guys my roommate has pink hair and she wont talk to me, what a bitch! Oh wait she's deaf, ha-ha never mind." Rachel took in a deep breath, rolling her eyes; she sometimes forgot why she told those two anything.

"Yes I was, and probably not for the last time, stupid and overlooking things, but this time I swear I didn't do anything."

"You probably tried to make a move on St. Sucks and she got uncomfortable and left." Santana suggested, and Rachel knit her eyebrows in disgust.

"Or maybe she got jealous." Kurt interjected. "Sounds like you might have ditched her." Rachel looked up, the words of the conversation registering in her mind.

"You weren't even _there_ Kurt, don't start guessing things."

"I wasn't there, but I do know _you_ my obnoxious little diva, and you did something." Rachel sighed, thoughts shifting from place to place, she stopped, going back to the previous statements of her friends.

"Wait, jealous?"

"I mean why not, knowing you, you probably left her on the side of the road holding your coat as you're frolicked off with Jesse." Kurt replied with just a slight twinkle of teasing in his voice.

"No I didn't and if she wanted to hang out, she could just have said so."

"Rachel she can't talk, remember?"

"And you don't listen." Santana added.

"Yeah but…"

"Look Rach." Kurt started, waiting a few seconds to make sure Rachel was actually going to listen to what he had to say. "I have no idea what's going on, or the full story but you need to fix this. I'm not saying it's your fault, but I _am_ saying that you need to be that bigger person and fix it. Quinn seems like the type of person to not directly say something, so to understand her and what you did your going to have to _listen_." Kurt's tone was relaxed and calm, but his voice had dropped down an octave, seriousness taking over. Rachel knew that what he said was his honest opinion, he wasn't in casual conversation mode anymore, he was trying to fix the problem.

"Thanks Kurt but-"

"Apologize Rachel, for whatever you did or didn't do. Or it will continue to go on for ages." That was when the line went dead. Rachel groaned, falling back on her bed. Her friends were right, she hated when they were right. How was it that she was only a year and a half away from graduating college but still felt like a little kid? Even more so then Quinn-eat-Oreos-for-breakfast-Fabray. With a deep breath and a forced movement Rachel was out of bed and walking stiffly to Quinn's room. What was she going to say? Sorry for ditching you for my ex-boyfriend from high school? Sorry I have been a horrible friend. Were they friends? They were right? They had to be. Friends do the things they did right, go on walks and eat junk food together, and got each other whistles for presents? Yeah, they're friends, or maybe acquaintances… Somehow that thought made Rachel smile, and gave her the little bit of confidence she needed to do something that Rachel Berry hardly ever did.

"Sorry…" She whispered to herself, preparing her mind for what was about to happen. She approached Quinn's door, knocking softly, until she realized that there was no point and cracked it open a little, peaking her head in.

"Quinn? Are you in here, I need to talk to you." She looked around, not seeing Quinn anywhere. Did she disappear again? But from where? Did she float down five floors, or maybe she was just hiding in her closet.

"Quinn?" Rachel called, opening the door to let herself in.

"Ouch!" Rachel quickly peered behind the door to see Quinn clutching her nose and her sketchbook at her side, hair hidden by her bandana.

"Oh sorry Quinn, didn't see you… what were you doing behind the door?" Quinn ignored her, as she expected, and quickly walked over to her bed, stuffing her bag with her sketchbook and grabbing a few comic books from her shelves and sliding them inside. "Quinn please, I need to talk to you." Rachel tried, but Quinn pushed past her, making her way to the door. "Quinn please don't- EEK!" Rachel let out the worst and most hi pitched shriek probably in the entire world, taking two steps back and falling on Quinn's bed, pointing and shouting. "W-what is that!" She continued to scream, Quinn turned around surprised to see Rachel on her bed pointing wildly under the table. Quinn walked back over to her bed, dipping her head slightly to see what the problem was. That's when she started laughing.

Underneath the table was a small grey mouse.

"Quinn what is it, why is it there, no no, screw New York apartments, Quinn get rid of it please!" Rachel shrieked again when it started scurrying to the next corner of the table. Quinn turned back to look at Rachel, a small smile prying at her lips.

"Are you seriously laughing at me right now? Please get rid of it!" Quinn shook her head, crossing her arms. "What-oh, this is payback isn't it, Quinn please." But Quinn had already skipped of and was halfway out the door, turning back slightly to look at the panicked Rachel who was clutching her pillow for dear life.

"Quinn you wouldn't-"

With a quick wave Quinn shut the door behind her, leaving Rachel to stare at the mouse before her.

"Quinn!" She half wined half cried at the loss of her only salvation. Was Quinn really going to go through all of this just to prove a point? Rachel watched the mouse slowly chew away at her wall, evidently she was.

**…**

"This is horrible…" Rachel had no idea how long she had been sitting there staring at the stupid mouse. But Quinn probably wasn't coming back anytime soon, and then the mouse was going to get hungry and once it was tired of wall shavings it would come after her. Then with one bite she would die, or turn into 'Rat Girl'…

"Quinn!" Rachel shrieked, but in happiness when Quinn walked back into her room, holding an ice-cream cone and wearing the thickest, blackest sunglasses Rachel had ever seen. She stumbled a little and Rachel realized that she couldn't see anything.

"Why are you wearing those sunglasses? Is it so you can't see what I'm saying to you? Are you really _that _mad at me?" Quinn didn't respond and Rachel figured that either she couldn't see her or wasn't going to answer back anyway. "Quinn, please get the mouse." Quinn shook her head again, seating herself next to Rachel on her bed. Quinn was teasing her.

"Quinn, I'm sorry." Rachel rushed out, and Quinn turned her head towards her, taking her damn time licking her ice cream cone. It was a complete test, and Rachel wasn't going to beat her.

"I know you can't hear me Quinn and with your stupid sunglasses, I know you can't see me either, so let me just let is all out. I always like the New Years because I don't have to deal with all of those stupid mistakes I've made for the last twelve months, but now I realise saying 'adios' to those mistakes just makes room for the inevitable mistakes I'll make in the next twelve months… I'm so sorry Quinn, I really mean it to, not just like 'I'm sorry now lets get back to the TV,' you mean a lot to me even though we've only known each other for like three months, I'll really try to learn sign language and be a better friend and I'll make you cookies and we can watch those stupid crummy movies and make fun of them and… Oh gosh I hate rats." The small grey mouse continued to run across the floor, causing Rachel to flinch with every movement, clutching on to Quinn's sleeve for support.

"Quinn, can't you get rid of it? I mean your all badass and stuff, can't you tell it to leave?" Quinn quickly shook her head at the mouse, shrugging "

"Hello Mr. Mouse? Oh, I'm sorry I'm assuming your gender, hello creature of mouse DNA, the cheese is located in the door of the refrigerator towards the bottom, you may take however much you'd like, if you leave us in peace. Please close the door on your way out, but only if your up to it." The mouse was clearly not interested in negotiations and was more interested in cleaning himself off under the table. Rachel, having lost all rational thinking, pulled the sunglasses from Quinn's eyes and chucked them at the mouse, causing it to move its position slightly to check out the foreign object that landed more then a safe distance away from the target itself, Rachel was a terrible aim.

"Quinn, you should have done it, I'm terrible at aiming." She pouted, screaming again when the mouse made another move. "Quinn, please!" Quinn shrugged handing Rachel her ice-cream cone before getting up and leaving the room, coming back with large metal bowl. The _same_ metal bowl Rachel always uses to bake cake. With a smile on her face she crouched down, leaning the bowl on her side and waiting for the mouse to find his way in. When he did, Quinn quickly made her way to the elevator, and back downstairs. When she returned she had no mouse, a smirk on her face and Rachel had a bowl she could never use again.

"Sorry…" She whispered again and Quinn nodded in acknowledgment, walking back to her room.

**…**

Rachel came back from the store later that day with _two_ new bowls, the number for an exterminator and _another_ pie. She placed everything on the counter, before going to Quinn's room. She waved at her roommate, who was painting something on a canvas. Rachel couldn't see what it was though, because it was facing away from her.

"Hey." Quinn nodded waving at her, paint splatters covered her face and clothes.

Quinn was chewing on her necklace; Rachel didn't know people still did that.

"So now that your talking to me again…maybe you could, tell me why I made you so mad?" Quinn shook her head, turning her attention back to her painting. Rachel sighed and Santana's words somehow came back into her thoughts.

_And you don't listen…_ echoed through her mind, as she watched Quinn's elegant strokes against the page.

Quinn looked up from her isle and slowly but her paint down, turning her isle to face her and Rachel saw what she was painting, a big grey mouse. Giving Rachel a quick glance Quinn turned back to her painting. That was when Rachel figured out exactly what was going on. Quinn was trying to teach her a lesson. And it looked like in order for her to pass; she would have to study first.

"Quinn… I'm sorry, for whatever it is I did and even though your probably-" Quinn gave her an evil look, Rachel sighed, taking in a deep breath to readjust herself. "I'm sorry."

_Are you dating Jesse?_

"What? No, of course not Quinn, he's engaged- wait were you jealous?" Quinn instantly shook her head, darting her eyes away and becoming oddly fixated on her hands. "Oh my gosh you WERE, you know what that means Quinn? We're no longer acquaintances no, no we are buddies, and slowly working our way up to 'besties' I can't believe you were jealous of Jesse." Quinn rolled her eyes, walking back to her painting. "Hey wait." Rachel started waiting until Quinn looked at her to continue. "Since I sort of ditched you, lets hang out later, like Saturday, we could go to the movies or sit here and eat popsicles." Quinn nodded before going back to her painting. Rachel couldn't have been sure, but she saw the faintest hint of a smile on her _buddy's_ lips.


	7. Chapter 7

**This chapter takes place 2 weeks after the last one. **

**The Sound That Silence Makes**

_*cough _cough_*_

"Someone is clearly not happy today." Kurt sensed quickly upon his meeting with Rachel they walked down the hall to head home after a long day.

"I'm _always_ happy Kurt."

"Mhm. what's wrong?"

"Well aside from the fact we have a English test next week, and my head hurts, I have a dance residual on Wednesday and haven't gotten enough practice in." Kurt smirked, lightly bumping Rachel with his elbow.

"And why is this?"

"No reason."

"No there's a reason."

"Its nothing!" Rachel assured him, lifting her bag further up her shoulder. "I just haven't had a lot of time these past couple of weeks…"

"Ever since your date with Quinn." Kurt sung playfully ignoring Rachel's shocked expression.

"It wasn't a date Kurt, we just ate popsicles and watched old movies, we're buddies and we're roommates, so its normal that we would hang out."

"I'm sure." Rachel rolled her eyes at her friends smile, and would have liked if he had dropped the issue entirely. But of course he didn't. "I'm assuming your Sign Language lessons are going good?" Kurt added, but the slight smirk on his face told Rachel that wasn't what he was asking about.

"Okay, okay I know. I already got chewed out by Quinn, but come on Kurt I'm not a toddler, learning languages is hard when you're older…" She trailed off, knowing her excuse was not good enough, she could learn _anything_ in a month if she had the mind set and Kurt knew it.

"You just need motivation and obviously communicating with your hot roommate isn't good enough."

"Why does everyone constantly need to mention that she's hot?" She grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. "No one ever just says 'your roommate' I'm sure she _knows_ she's hot."

"Do _you_ know it?"

"What kind of question is that Kurt, of course I know it. Quinn is very attractive and her wild pink hair definitely suits her face- why are you smiling at me?" Kurt waved his hand, shaking his head.

"I'm just always happy Rach." He mocked and Rachel realized it was a nod to what she had said a minute earlier. "Anyway, how was your lovely Friday?"

It wasn't actually that lovely. The snow was picking up fast and there were talks of an approaching blizzard, but they were safe so far. Rachel thought she could handle whatever weather came into her sights, but obviously the snow of Ohio was nothing compared to the wrath of whatever angry clouds where above New York. She groaned when she saw what was going on outside the window, turning back to face Kurt. "

"Well if I was able to _see_ where I was going all day I probably would be able to tell you, but I want to know what you had in mind about the 'motivation' stuff!"

"Well I don't know, what do you want?"

"A Tony."

"Something easily attainable in the next couple of months Rach." She sighed, twirling her fingers in her pockets. What did she want? She always got asked that question and the easiest thing was always to simply say- New York, Broadway. But now she was in New York, on her way to Broadway soon enough she didn't really _want_ anything else.

"I don't know…" She settled on, pushing the doors to the outside with her shoulders, not wanting to take her hands away from the warmth of her pockets.

"Well maybe that's something to think about."

"You sound like a therapist." She teased, pulling her hood up to cover her hair as she squinted her eyes to the cold winds.

"Well I guess that means you really are crazy." Kurt smirked, quickening her pace to match with Rachel's. "We've been here almost three years and we're still sledding our way to the subway station."

"You should really get a car."

"Why don't you get one?" He replied after nearly slipping on the sidewalk.

"Well I don't have any money."

"We should start a lemonade stand, you know 'a glass helps a good cause.'"

"I doubt the population is going to help two college kids buy a car, especially for a glass of lemonade." Rachel shrugged, jogging down the stairs of the subway station, pulling her hood down and shaking the lose snowflakes and water droplets from her coated body. They walked together in silence as they scanned their passes and waited for the subway, until Rachel spoke up again.

"Its not like I'm apposed to the idea of trying to earn money and stuff, and I guess I should really get a job. Student loans aren't exactly easy to pay off. My dads have been super generous in donations but eventually even they are going to get sick of me."

"So you're going to get a job?" Rachel shrugged, she had her share of failed job attempts, but she hated mediocre work. She was made for bigger and brighter things, which hopefully brought in bigger and brighter paychecks.

"I don't know, its kind of the same scenario with Quinn you know? I really want to talk to her I just-"

"Don't want to put in the effort to do so." Kurt suggested, passing by his sighing friend to check the time, seeing a train approaching he quickly said his goodbyes.

"Bye Rach."

"Bye!" She waved as the doors closed.

**…**

The next day Rachel was feeling more then less eager to spend the weekend studying. And the recent sore throat she had obtained did not help. It was only when she got out of bed and over to the fridge that she realized it was twelve in the afternoon, and the fact that Quinn was up and laying on the floor before her told Rachel just how late she had gotten up.

"The day is already half gone, how did I sleep so late?" She mumbled to herself fishing through the fridge to find what she was looking for, before a note caught her eye. She turned back around, yelling in Quinn's direction. "Quinn why is all my non-dairy yogurt replaced with a sign saying 'yuck' and about thirty cups of pudding?" She walked over to her roommate, holding a cup of pudding in her hand. Quinn was rested in her normal spot on the floor, a pile of Lego's and her sketch book in front of her and the start of what looked like a red dragon's head in her hands. Laying on her stomach and legs swinging in the air she looked like a child, minus the pink hair and ripped jeans.

"Quinn why did you-" Rachel stopped herself, looking down and for the first time since she had started ranting noticed what Quinn was doing. "Oh my god did you make that!" She tapped her shoulder causing Quinn to turn around confused, squinting her eyes. "Did you make that?" Rachel repeated less enthusiastically. Quinn nodded, pointing to her sketchbook with an open drawing of a dragon diagram colored in red. "How did you even do that?" She shrugged, her eyes flicking to the pudding cup in Rachel's hand.

"You can have it if you want." She said handing it to Quinn, who took it with a small smile. "Quinn smiling? That's new." Rachel joked, sitting down next to Quinn, pushing a Lego towards her when it was just a little out of reach. Quinn lifted her gaze, tilting her head, waiting for Rachel to speak. But shook her head when she noticed Rachel's slightly red eyes. Pulling the pen from her ear she wrote a message on the back of her hand.

_Are you sick?_

"What? No, I don't get sick. I'm just tired is all." Rachel smiled, trying to ignore Quinn's raised eyebrow.

"But I have dance rehearsal in an hour, you want to come?" Quinn shrugged. "There's a cupcake place-" Quinn's eyes widened and she rushed to her room, running back out with her coat.

"Its in an hour Quinn." Rachel giggled, coughing a little. "Well I'm going to go get ready." Quinn nodded, already going back to working on her Lego sculpture, clicking in a new piece. Rachel assumed she was trying to make a nose.

**…**

"Thanks for coming with me to my rehearsal Quinn, it was really nice of you." Quinn nodded, more focused on the light snow fall then Rachel's talking. Rachel sighed, holding in a cough. "But I'm wondering if its because you wanted to see my dance or because I mentioned the cupcake place next door." Quinn gave a soft smile, it changed into a raised eyebrow when Rachel rubbed at her nose with the back of her hand.

"What? No, I'm fine." She lied, sniffing slightly. "Its just cold." She rubbed her hands together, before pointing to a building. "That's it, and next to it is the cupcake palace."

The two entered Rachel's dance studio, and Quinn instantly scowled when a woman approached them.

"Hey Rachel, oh who's this?"

"This is Quinn, my roommate, I thought maybe she could come see us practice." The woman smiled at them, Quinn watched as her curly blonde hair flew across her shoulder.

"So this is the infamous Quinn? Hi, I'm Lily." Quinn turned her head away, crossing her arms and walking over to a bench at the back of the room. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's just…cranky I guess." Rachel shrugged, looking back at Quinn who was drawing things on the back of her hand. "Well I'm going to go change."

"Alright, hey you look a little out of it. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Rachel nodded.

"Alright…see you out there." Lily smiled, waving at Rachel as she went into one of the back rooms. Lily walked over to Quinn, tying her hair in a ponytail before speaking.

"Hey Quinn, how's it going." She was ignored, as Quinn continued to doodle on her hand. "Okay then…" Rachel came jogging out, pulling her hair into a ponytail, and rubbing at her nose again.

"Are we starting now?"

"Yeah in five minutes." Lily replied, walking over to the other dancers scattered around. Quinn had a good time watching the dancers. They were good. She watched carefully, doing quick sketches of some of them when they were still enough for her to remember their movements. Rachel smiled over at Quinn every time she had a second, making sure she hadn't left and was still interested in everything that was happening. The minute class was over and the other dancers dispersed into conversations and grab-bagging Rachel walked over to Quinn, out of breath and sniffling.

"I'm actually going to stay a little longer, you can go get cupcakes if you want." Rachel panted, feeling and looking worse then she did before practice. Quinn shrugged, setting her sketchbook down on the bench and stuffing her hands in her pockets, walking out the door. Rachel grabbed the open sketchbook from the bench, smiling at it.

"I didn't know I looked so good dancing." She giggled to herself, regretting it when she started coughing.

"Hey Rach, aren't you going to get changed?" A girl with short brown hair asked when she came out of the changing room, a larger group of other dancers following her.

"Oh I think… I'll stay for a little bit more, I haven't gotten enough practice in." Rachel said in between slight coughs, almost completely out of breath.

"You don't look so good? Are you sure that's a good idea?" Another girl with black hair questioned.

"Don't push yourself, we don't need you getting sick." The brown hair girl added.

"I'll be fine." She smiled, waving at the brown haired girl who quickly walked off with her friends.

"Where's your friend?" Lily asked when she returned from changing.

"She went to go get cupcakes, she'll be back." Rachel said with a smile, coughing slightly.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just making sure I know the routine."

"Alright… see you tomorrow."

"Bye." Rachel sighed, turning back around to continue her routine. Quinn came in ten minutes later, a box of cupcakes in her hand and snow covering her pink hair.

"Hey Quinn." Rachel smiled out of breath, rubbing her eyes softly. Her face was red and she seemed completely out of energy "Um, I have to practice a little bit more… If, if you wanted to." She took a deep breath, leaning back against the wall and slowly sliding to the floor. "You can stay for a few minutes if you wanted to... um, I have to stay." Quinn set her box of cupcakes on the bench she was sitting on early and walked over to Rachel, kneeling next to her and placing a gentle hand on Rachel's forehead.

"No Quinn don't do that, if you acknowledge the sickness it only makes it stronger." Rachel sniffed, rubbing at her nose. Quinn have her a disapproving frown, but Rachel who was weakly rubbing her eyes ignored it.

"Its fine Quinn really, I've pushed through being sick before, it's no big deal." Rachel shook her head weakly. Quinn sighed, getting up to get Rachel's coat and bag, sticking her sketchbook in it and grabbing the cupcakes she left on the bench.

"A-are you leaving? Don't take my bag Quinn… I- I have to…" Rachel closed her eyes, out of breath; she opened them again when she heard Quinn next to her. Sliding Rachel's coat over her arms and slipping Rachel's bag over her own shoulders Quinn crouched on the ground.

"W-what are you doing?" Rachel coughed out, pulling the jacket Quinn had just pulled over her arms closer to her body. Quinn rolled her eyes and Rachel could just imagine her saying 'idiot'. But to her surprise Quinn rested her arm under Rachel's and slipped the other one under her legs, hoisting her up.

"Quinn your not seriously going to carry me home are you?" Quinn nodded, already walking towards the door. "Your really strong…or I'm just really tiny…" Rachel whispered, leaning her head into Quinn's arm.

"Are you sure Quinn I can walk home-" Rachel's coughing stopped her from arguing. She fought the urge to close her eyes and fall asleep, not wanting to have Quinn carry her and be asleep. But she had no energy left, and fighting urges was hard when she was sick. So she closed her eyes softly, feeling light snowflakes fall on her nose.

**…**

Both of them didn't say a word as they made their way home. Rachel because she was sick and asleep and Quinn because she couldn't anyway. They got a few looks from people, and why shouldn't they? A pink haired girl in ripped jeans carrying a hopefully just asleep girl at eight at night in the cold, wasn't exactly normal. Rachel had started to wake up when they got back to their hotel lobby.

"Thanks Quinn, I can uh…" She expected Quinn to let her down but she didn't. . In fact Quinn didn't put her down until she was in her bed, shoes off and under the covers with a cup of Quinn's hot chocolate in her hands. She smiled to herself, looking over to check the time on her phone. It had been thirty minutes since Quinn brought her home and she hadn't seen her. A soft knock on the door got her attention.

"Quinn?" Rachel chocked out, regretting speaking when she irrupted in a coughing fit.

"Nope just me." Kurt answered, walking over to his friend and placing some books on the floor next to the bed. "Why would it be Quinn? I assume she wouldn't knock."

"Right…" Rachel sighed, feeling a little disappointed.

"Why is it so hot in here?" Kurt groaned, fanning himself with his hands.

"Sorry I don't…" Rachel looked up when she saw Quinn, a plate of crackers in her hands. She was wearing a T-shirt and jean shorts, her hair in pigtails.

"Well I brought your homework from school, seeing as you'll probably be out for a while."

"Thanks…but-"

"Quinn called me, from your phone I might add. Well actually she _texted_ but still." Kurt smiled, Quinn nodded. "Guess I better go." He smirked, waving goodbye to both girls.

"Bye Kurt thanks." Rachel called out, coughing again. When Kurt was gone, Quinn entered her room, setting the plate of crackers on the desk next to Rachel's bed. Rachel noticed she was sweating a little.

"Why is so hot?" Quinn pointed to Rachel's phone, turning her head. "Oh yeah, you can use it." Quinn nodded, typing in a message and holding it up for her to see.

_I didn't want you to be cold_

"T-thanks." Quinn nodded again, giving Rachel a soft smile and walking towards the door, shutting off the lights before closing the door softly behind her. Rachel smiled taking a sip of her drink. That was all the motivation she needed.

**Wow haven't updated in FOREVR. Sorry guys. I've had a bad case of summer laziness, but I'm back in the writing mood. Hope you guys are enjoying the story. And if you think Rachel now has a crush on Quinn don't be too sure, Rachel can be a little difficult (and so can Quinn) Hope you're liking so far. THANKS FOR READING!**


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